Nazaré wins New Mexico-Arizona Book Award

Nazaré: a novel has won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Literary Fiction. It was a joint winner alongside Brandon Hobson’s superb The Removed. Back in 2021, I invited Brandon to speak at Southwest Word Fiesta; he was brilliant. Among the other winners was First & Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100 (Torrey House Press),…

“Nazaré” nominated for Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

I’m thrilled to announce that Nazaré has made it onto the shortlist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction. The book is in extremely good company, with several authors whose work I admire, especially Ladee Hubbard and the protean Percival Everett. A list of previous winners of the award reads like a who’s who of…

“Les Dévastés” – Camille Nivelle wins translation award for French edition of “Damnificados”

Camille Nivelle has won the 2019 Prix SGDL Révélation de Traduction for her French translation of my novel Damnificados. This prestigious award is given annually by the comité de la Société des gens de lettres, in France. The awards come in eight categories including best first novel, poetry, etc. The award will be presented in…

PEN America announces Writing for Justice Fellowship

  PEN America has run a prison writing program for over forty years. The program provides mentors, free resources and an audience for the incarcerated. This program benefits the prisoners, who get a chance to reflect on their lives through the written word and to express themselves in new ways. But the program also benefits…

“Damnificados” wins Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction

The 2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards were presented on October 20, at the Washington Plaza Hotel, Washington D.C. Over 200 people attended. There were poets, novelists, academics, essayists, editors and publishing icons. It was a superb event. Three legendary figures were honored: the long-time civil rights activist-turned-bestselling-author Congressman John Lewis; poet and publisher Haki Madhubuti; and…

“Damnificados” named finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

I’m thrilled to say … well, you’ve probably read the title of this blog post already. Here’s why I’m thrilled: “The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award recognizes the best books by Black writers from the United States and abroad, chosen in a juried competition by previous Legacy Award honorees. The Legacy Award was the first national award…