The Writing Seminars is happy to announce that Rachael Clifford has won first place in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers for her story, “What the Year Will Swallow.” She will receive $2,500.

Rachael Uwada Clifford is a writer and poet living in Baltimore. The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, she was born in Tennessee and grew up in Georgia and New Mexico. She received her MFA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, where she also taught creative writing. She has received awards and fellowships from Cave Canem, Kimbilio, The Mastheads, and the Maryland State Arts Council. This will be her first publication.