I know an extremely talented author who lately has been picking up a lot of steam — as well as accolades. In fact, I happen to be her son.

My mom, Marjorie, who retired as a psychotherapist several years ago to pursue her dream of becoming an author, now writes full-time. She’s constantly jotting down ideas, developing plot lines, meeting with other local authors, and sending manuscripts to publishers.

Recently, the publisher of the Short Story America Anthology, which contains two of Marjorie’s short stories, nominated her for the 2012 Pushcart Prize. According to mom, the Pushcart is the “Oscars” of the writing world. We’ll find out the winners soon, but it’s a huge honor just to be nominated. Congratulations, mom!

“The Pushcart Prize – Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976 – is the most honored literary project in America. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of our annual collections.” – pushcartprize.com

If you want to learn more about this fantastic up-and-coming author and see a captivating performance of one of her works, watch the following video.