Two Writers Awarded a Hotel Room of Their Own -- And All the Room Service They Can Stomach

DAYTON, Ohio, Nov. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Liz Kozak, director of editorial and content development at The Second City in Chicago, and Tracy Brady, a communications and public relations professional from Carlisle, Massachusetts, will be robed in plush, custom-embroidered bathrobes as the 2020 winners of a writer's residency that Forbes.com describes as perhaps "the best in the country."

As part of the winning package for A Hotel Room of One's Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program, Kozak and Brady will be flown as guests to the April 2-4 University of Dayton's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. At the close of the workshop, they will remain at the Marriott at the University of Dayton for another two weeks to work on their proposed humor projects.

The perks? Free room service. A housekeeping staff. An omelette bar. And, most importantly, the gift of time to write.

"I work from home, mostly in my bathrobe. This experience was made for me. And if I am ultimately not selected, please bestow it upon another mom who writes from home. She deserves to have someone else make up her bed while she makes up her future," wrote Kozak in her application.

"Humor writing is my release and my joy. I write because being funny makes me feel alive, and making people laugh is the best feeling in the world," said Brady.

Nearly 50 preliminary judges, all established writers, narrowed the field for Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry and best-selling novelist Adriana Trigiani, who selected the winners. The contest drew applications from 396 writers from eight countries.

Kozak, a former writer and producer of on-air promotions at Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios who has been "living and writing with" multiple sclerosis for 18 years, is working on The Christmas Widow. It's "a screenplay for "hate-watchers and love-bingers, a mash-up of two of the greatest film genres of our time: made-for-TV stalker thrillers and made-for-TV holiday rom-coms."

Barry loved the idea: "This person writes like a pro. A really snarky pro. Which is good."

Brady's proposed comic novel, Playgroup, is a "darkly comic novel about six bored stay-at-home parents recruited by the CIA to become government assassins" and draws inspiration "from play dates when my children were little," she wrote in her application. "I was surrounded by (mostly) women with MBAs, Ph.D.s, professional success ? we were all taking time off to 'just be a mom.' We laughed about spending our days in germ-infested ball pits, sweltering playgrounds and expensive music 'classes' for children who couldn't sit up yet. We bonded over our choices... and we realized that many of us were struggling with those choices. I wanted to write honestly ? and funnily ? about the complex feelings women have about modern marriage and motherhood."

Trigiani called Brady a "great original voice" with "superb style," and Barry found her writing "reminiscent of Erma herself."

Contact:
Teri Rizvi
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937-367-2878

SOURCE University of Dayton Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop