Penn State professor wins prestigious writing award for fiction novel
A State College-based writer was one of ten emerging writers to win the prestigious Whiting Award this year.
Samuel Kọ́láwọlé, an assistant professor of English and African Studies at Penn State, won the award for his fiction novel, “The Road to the Salt Sea.”
The selection committee wrote: “Samuel Kọ́láwọlé dances back and forth across the borders of genre to craft a propulsive and humane thriller, populated by unforgettable characters whom he presents with unthinkable choices. In the hands of this wondrous storyteller, yearning and thwarted ambition raise predicament to the level of tragedy. His portrait of immigrants on the move through and toward the unknown melds gripping narrative with indelible testimony.”
The Whiting Awards were established by the Whiting Foundation in 1985 and are one of the most esteemed and largest monetary gifts for emerging writers, a press release from the awards states. The award recognizes early-career achievements and comes with a $50,000 prize.
“The prizes are designed to recognize excellence and promise in a spectrum of emerging talent, giving most winners the chance to devote themselves full time to their own writing, or to take bold new risks in their work,” the release states.
Courtney Hodell, Whiting’s director of literary programs, said the writers show “astounding range” and each has created the tools needed to create their narratives.
“Taken as a whole, their work shows a sharply honed sensitivity to our history, both individual and collective, and a passionate curiosity as to where a deeper understanding of that history can take us,” Hodell said.
Kọ́láwọlé was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. He’s received many residencies and fellowships, and was also previously a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing, Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize, International Book Award, and UK’s First Novel Prize. He graduated from the MFA in writing and publishing at Vermont College of Fine Arts and has a Ph.D. in English and creative writing from Georgia State University.
