Wilkes University creative writing MFA graduate Dawn D’Aries Zera is a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction.

Zera’s “Earth Teach Me” is one of ten books in the running for the $25,000 prize and publishing contract with Algonquin Books.

The Bellwether Award was established by Barbara Kingsolver in 2000 as a way to promote fiction that highlights social justice and the effect culture and politics have on human relationships.

The winner will be announced on March 1, 2016.

Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLArts

Winner announced March 1, 2016

By Gene Axton

gaxton@timesleader.com