FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jul 5, 2011    #136
Contact: Laura Byerley
(816) 235-1592

Atlanta author's characters seek better odds, on and off the racetrack

UMKC's BkMk Press publishes Andrew Plattner's story collection

Kansas City, Mo. - In Andrew Plattner's new BkMk Press story collection - "A Marriage of Convenience" - characters try to improve their odds on the racetrack and in life. As writer and editor George Core writes, "Plattner's best stories concern the seedy world of horse racing… the race track, usually a small track in a dying town, often a steel town... This milieu is as natural to Andrew Plattner as the Catholic Church and its priests were to J. F. Powers, and the agrarian world of Georgia to Flannery O'Connor."

The celebrated writer Frederick Barthelme calls the book "a masterful performance from first to last." Novelist and story writer Sefi Atta calls the book "a brilliant collection of short stories, honest, wise, and full of warmth."

Plattner is the author of "Winter Money," which won the Flannery O'Connor Prize for Short Fiction. He also wrote "The Kentucky Derby Vault: A History of the Run for the Roses," which was a finalist for the Castleton Lyons' and Thoroughbred Times' Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. A former turf writer, Plattner has published short fiction in literary journals, such as The Paris Review, Epoch, Shenandoah and Northwest Review. He lives in Atlanta.

"A Marriage of Convenience" (ISBN 978-1-886157-78-1) is 180 pages, and the retail price is $15.95.

BkMk Press books are available through Baker & Taylor, Ingram Book Company, SPD and directly through BkMk Press. For more information, contact Ben Furnish, managing editor of BkMk Press, at furnishb@umkc.edu or (816) 235-2558.

About BkMk Press:
Founded in 1971, BkMk Press has been a part of UMKC since 1983. BkMk concentrates on publishing collections of poetry, short fiction and creative essays. Publishing roughly six titles a year, BkMk Press has more than 125 titles in print. BkMk Press established the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize in 2002 to honor the memory of Chandra, a writer and longtime faculty member at UMKC. Financial assistance for BkMk Press is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, by UMKC, and by private donations.

About the University of Missouri-Kansas City:
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 15,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience. For more information about UMKC, visit www.umkc.edu. You can also find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and watch us on YouTube.

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This information is available to people with speech or hearing impairments by calling Relay Missouri at (800) 735-2966 (TT) or (800) 735-2466 (voice).

 

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