Claire Vaye Watkins wins $20,000 prize for short stories for her collection ‘Battleborn’

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Claire Vaye Watkins has won a $20,000 Story Prize, the first woman to do so since 2007.

Vaye received the ninth annual Story Prize on Wednesday night for “Battleborn,” a collection of 10 short stories set in the American West in the past and present.

The other finalists were Junot Diaz for “This is How You Lose Her” and Dan Chaon (shorn) for “Stay Awake.” Each will receive $5,000.

The last woman to win the Story Prize was Mary Gordon for “The Stories of Mary Gordon.”

The award was established in 2004 to honour short story collections. Previous winners include Edwidge Danticat for “The Dew Breaker,” Patrick O’Keeffe for “The Hill Road” and Steven Millhauser for “We Others.”