Obsidian Editor Duriel E. Harris was recognized by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) with the 2023 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature.
AWP acknowledges the efforts of writers, editors, teachers, and administrators who have done their utmost to help the next generation of writers find their way as artists and literary professionals. In bestowing this lifetime achievement award, AWP recognizes individuals who have made notable donations of care, time, labor, and money to support writers and their literary accomplishments.
In the nomination letter for Harris’ award, Obsidian Managing Editor Tara Reeser wrote, “I have witnessed her tirelessly working on behalf of Obsidian and a community of writers, artists, and scholars as she also makes space for her own important work as a poet, performance artist, scholar, and professor of poetry and poetics at ISU. She has provided opportunities and a platform for critical and creative Black thought and expression toward the transformation of the larger social world. And we are all better for it.”
Additional nomination letters were written by Katherine Ellison, C. Liegh McInnis, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Marva Lord, Afaa M. Weaver, and Sheree Renée Thomas. Dr. Harris received the award during the AWP Conference in Seattle. Harris’ acceptance speech will be published in the September 2023 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle.
Find out more about Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora.
