Yorktown Teacher Wins Publishing Prize

The University of New Orleans Press announced that Yorktown High School teacher Melanie McCabe is the winner of the 2016 UNO Publishing Lab Prize. McCabe’s His Other Life: Searching for My Father, His First Wife, and Tennessee Williams is a smart, deeply felt exploration of family secrets.

Many years after her father’s death, McCabe discovered that Tennessee Williams had written her father into one of his plays. This revelation launched an investigation that would reveal a startling secret: her father’s first wife, Hazel Kramer, was Tennessee Williams’ greatest and only female love. McCabe plunges into the fascinating life of her father’s first marriage and its role as a muse to one of America’s literary giants, Tennessee Williams.

McCabe uncovers never-before-seen photos and documents—clues to her father’s past, the complicated romantic relationships shared by these three people, and Hazel’s mysterious death. In a tale of romance, betrayal, and suicide, McCabe explores the secret lives of her subjects and herself.

Her most recent book of poems, What The Neighbors Know, was published by FutureCycle Press in 2014, and was awarded honorable mention in the 2015 Library of Virginia Awards. Her first book of poetry, History of the Body, was published by David Robert Books in 2012. McCabe’s poems have appeared in Poetry Daily, Best New Poets 2010, The Georgia Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Cincinnati Review, Bellingham Review, Alaska