a master鈥檚 student in the creative writing program, has been named the fiction winner of the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers for her story 鈥淗ow to Kill Pigs.鈥 The award, given annually to black college fiction and poetry writers, is named after Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright.
鈥淗urston is a hero of mine,鈥 Hutchinson said. 鈥淲hen I read her for the first time in high school it made me believe that I could actually write stories. It was in re-reading Hurston鈥檚 鈥楾heir Eyes Were Watching God鈥 that made me want to write again after I had given up on it, so winning something that has her name on it means more than I can ever truly say.鈥
Founded in 1990 by award-winning author Marita Golden and historian Clyde McElvene, the Hurston/ Wright Foundation is 鈥渃ommitted to the development, dissemination, and preservation of literature with a focus on the contributions of African American writers.鈥
鈥淗ow to Kill Pigs,鈥 is a coming-of-age story that deals with issues of race in the south of the 1950s, Hutchinson said.
鈥淧art of the story was inspired by my mother鈥檚 stories of how when she was young my grandfather would raise livestock in their backyard, mostly pigs and chickens,鈥 Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson received a $1,000 cash prize and a certificate to attend a Hurston/ Wright writing workshop. She was honored along with other college winners Oct. 20 at the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards ceremony in Washington D.C
Hutchinson received her bachelor鈥檚 degree from the College of Charleston. She is a fiction writer who focuses on the short story, black women literature, women of color literature, intersectionality and the modern day American south.
Yvette Lisa Ndlovu is a communications assistant in the 麻豆视频 & 麻豆视频.
More News from A&S
