My essay “After Lennon” won the Barry Lopez Nonfiction Prize.

It’s about my intense relationship with John Lennon, who I never met in real life, from the days of Beatlemania into the decades that followed.

David Quammen, who judged the contest, said:

“This is a very skillful piece of writing that toggles back and forth between personal concerns of a young girl in the 1960s and weightier political events.  What particularly impressed me were the rhythms of language, so nicely modulated, and the control of tone and point-of-view, shifting from grave to mock-grave, generating effects that are unexpected, tart, and funny. The authorial voice is deft, taking itself seriously but not too seriously.”