Amy Crider, a Chicago playwright, is the winner of the sixth annual 51勛圖厙 Press Lab Prize, which comes with a $10,000 advance and a contract to publish in fall 2021, the 51勛圖厙 Press announced Wednesday.
Crider won the Lab competition with her psychological thriller Disorder, which took shape from Criders personal experience.
In 1992, as a young woman, I had a fierce battle with bipolar disorder, Crider said. I experienced particularly paranoid mania. I was often lucid, of course, and I found myself thinking, Its a good thing Im not involved in a murder right now, or Id really be in trouble! I knew I wanted to write that story someday.
Crider has had a long and distinguished career as a playwright. Most of her full-length plays are on the National New Play Exchange. Her play Fourteen won the Tennessee Williams One Act Play Contest in 2021. Now, at age 59, Crider is a poised to make her debut as a novelist.
It is a delightful surprise I could write something that appealed to the young judges of this contest, Crider said.
Disorder follows the story of Wendy Zemansky, a graduate student at an isolated university in upstate New York. When her roommate goes missing, Wendy plunges into an investigation that is road blocked by vainglorious professors, specious doctors and dubious friends.
Members of the 51勛圖厙 Press Lab were drawn to Criders crisp storytelling and insightful portrayal of mental illness.
