Melissa Yancy was six months pregnant and had just been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship when her phone rang with more good fortune: Her short-story collection, “Dog Years,” was the winner of the 2016 Drue Heinz Literature Prize.
It was as if a character from one of her intricate and finely realized short stories had an uncommon run of luck.
“The possibility of good news after good news, that seemed really strange,” says Yancy, who will appear Oct. 6 at the O'Hara Student Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus with Drue Heinz judge Richard Russo. “I think I was in denial and so distracted by having a child and being so busy, which I think was a good thing.”
The Los Angeles resident works full time as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations. Hobnobbing with and eliciting funds from donors might not seem conducive to writing, but Yancy has to be an attentive listener, an invaluable tool for any writer.
“And as far as material, it's incredibly rich,” she says. “You meet people from all walks of life.”
The stories in “Dog Years” are inhabited by unique and singular characters. In “Hounds,” a soldier who has had a face transplant struggles with his standing as a hero. A woman who has overcome a childhood ailment dates a man who was the voice of Winnie the Pooh in “Miracle Girl Grows Up.”
Yancy is a deliberate writer. When she finds an interesting situation or detail, it can germinate for weeks or months until the right angle or element is found.
“It's something that's either a complicating factor or just a different perspective on the story,” she says. “Sometimes, I don't know who should be telling the story, and that's kind of the piece I'm waiting for. Sometimes, I'm just waiting for the voice.”
Many of the stories in “Dog Years” have grim premises or situations. The title story is about a 9-year-old boy slowly losing his motor skills because of muscular dystrophy. When he wants to do something adult, he says he has aged in dog years and claims to be in his 30s.
Because she has worked as a fundraiser for medical issues, Yancy admits she tends to gravitate to stories that have dark elements. But even in medical wards or stressful family situations, she can find moments of clarity and grace.
“When I look back at most of the stories in the collection … they tend to end on a positive note,” Yancy says, “despite how dark the story might be. I don't think I'm a fundamentally dark person. But I've worked in these environments that are dark because people are really sick and the stakes are really high. And yet they're also these incredibly uplifting environments, too.”
As winner of the 2016 Drue Heinz Prize, Yancy receives a $15,000 cash prize and publication of her book with the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Rege Behe is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
