Eastern Washington University alumnus and adjunct faculty member Shawn Vestal won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction at a New York ceremony Sept. 29 for his collection of short stories, “Godforsaken Idaho.”

Vestal, best known in Spokane for his thrice weekly column in the Spokesman-Review, said winning the prize was not something he had really looked for but described the experience as “wonderful and strange.”

“Publishing a book at all was a dream come true,” Vestal said. “Anything on top of that is just insane and unexpected and great.”

The PEN/Bingham Prize, which comes with an award of $25,000, is great exposure for Eastern according to Samuel Ligon, a professor who worked closely with Vestal while he was a student in Eastern’s master of fine arts program for creative writing.

Vestal said even though he had been writing for a long time, his experience at Eastern gave him the motivation to work harder than ever on his fiction.

“I needed what that program provides,” he said. “The expectation that you will work harder, and [receive] a lot of really intense, focused feedback.”

According to Ligon, when Vestal arrived in the program, he came ready to take the next step with his writing and took advantage of what Eastern had to offer. Vestal is now an adjunct faculty member at the university and teaches a creative writing workshop.

“It’s really cool to be able to have a former student who can work in the program with us,” Ligon said. “We love having him. He’s a great teacher, and a friend.”

Ligon said he is happy to see a writer from his program work hard and make the national scene.

“Even though [Vestal] is a naturally gifted writer, he benefitted from his time as a student in the MFA Creative Writing program,” Ligon said. “I think a lot of students get what they put in. He had a real perseverance and dedication with the work. That’s just kind of fundamental. But he also has talent and vision, and that doesn’t hurt either.”

Vestal said he plans to use the prize money to pay off his car and take some time off work to finish the novel he is currently working on.

“My son thinks he gets a Lego set,” Vestal said. “And that may happen, I suppose.”