Valerie Werder’s first novel is the winner of the 2019 Fence Modern Prize in Prose

February 5, 2020
Valerie Werder

Valerie Werder, a first-year PhD student in Film and Visual Studies, is the winner of the 2019 Fence Modern Prize in Prose for her autofiction novel, Thieves. Werder has previously published short fiction in BOMB and staged theatrical performances at Participant Inc, New York, and Artspace, New Haven. Thieves will be her first book, and will be published in fall 2021.

Fence Books was established by Rebecca Wolff in 1998 with the mission to publish challenging poetry and prose distinguished by idiosyncrasy and intelligence rather than by allegiance with camps, schools, or cliques. Previous winners of the Fence Modern Prize in Prose include Ottessa Moshfegh and Hilary Plum. For more about Fence, see here. For previous contest winners, see here.