Nancy Zafris ' newest novel, Lucky Strike, is scheduled for release this April. Published by Unbridled Books , the novel is already receiving kudos from literary critics. In a starred review, Booklist writes, "Zafris invests her offbeat material with deep emotion and tragic undertones." Zafris is The Kenyon Review's fiction editor.

Lucky Strike tells the story of a colorful cast of characters who "embark on very personal divergent journeys across an unforgiving countryside." Set in 1954's canyon country of the desert Southwest, the characters are united in their quest to find uranium. In its description of the novel, Unbridled Books writes, "By turns meditative and funny, frightening, witty and refreshingly wise, Lucky Strike explores the ways that lanuguage simply put can mine the inexpressible. In the process, a young widow and her two children learn much about uranium but even more about the nature of the love that binds them. This is a story to touch your heart."

In its March 2005 review, Booklist adds, "Charlie's debilitating illness and the effects of uranium poisoning (unknown at the time) sit in counterpoint to the loopy banter and endearing cast of characters. Like Marianne Wiggins' quirky, superb Evidence of Things Unseen (2003), this novel is both disturbing and hypnotic."

Zafris' work has consistently received praise from literary critics and readers alike. The New York Times has written, "Zafris is an abundantly talented writer." The Christian Science Monitor described her debut novel, The Metal Shredders (BlueHen Books/PenguinPutnam, 2002), as "full of the sweat of real labor and the sinews of class guilt."

A book of stories, The People I Know (Univ. of Georgia Press, 1990), earned Zafris the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, as well as the Ohioana Library Association Award. Her stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines—Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, Antioch Review, and KR, among others. In addition to her responsibility as fiction editor, Zafris teaches fiction at KR's Writers Workshop each summer.