Ricardo Nuila, the 2015 and first New England Review Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Scholar, recently signed a deal with Scribner’s for the acquisition of his non-fiction book The Poor Unfortunates. 

A deep dive into a hospital in Houston called Ben Taub that caters to the indigent and undocumented . . . Nuila, who is a doctor and a journalist, explores . . . how American justice and medical systems often fail the poor, sick, and underserved in our country, how Ben Taub has managed to overcome the odds and provide excellent care for all its patients, and how facilities across the country might hope to do the same.  —Publishers Weekly

Nuila is an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is a hospitalist and teaches internal medicine and medical humanities. His fiction, essays, and reporting have appeared in Best American Short Stories, McSweeney’s, Virginia Quarterly Review, the Atlantic, New England Review, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other publications. His story “At the Bedside” appeared in NER 35.1.

The NER Award for Emerging Writers provides a full scholarship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for an emerging writer in any genre. This annual award, which is bestowed upon a writer who offers an unusual and compelling new voice and who has been published by NER, is selected by the NER editorial staff and the BLWC director.