The Stone Award, established by OSU alum Patrick F. Stone ('74) and his wife, Vicki, provides a wonderful opportunity and a valuable chance to interact with well-established literary figures. With an honorarium of $20,000, the award recognizes a major American author who has created a body of critically acclaimed literary work and who has been a dedicated mentor to succeeding generations of young writers. Winners visit the OSU campus in Corvallis, where they perform readings for the community and discuss their writing with students.
Past recipients include novelists Joyce Carol Oates and Tobias Wolff in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and poet Rita Dove in 2016. The 2019 Stone Award recipient is novelist Colson Whitehead, whose 2016 book, The Underground Railroad, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal for Fiction, the Heartland Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Hurston/Wright Fiction Award. Whitehead’s body of work includes five other novels, a collection of nonfiction essays about New York City, and a nonfiction account of the 2011 World Series of Poker. Born and raised in Manhattan, Whitehead returned to the city after graduating from Harvard College and has taught at various schools across the state of New York.
Peter Betjemann, OSU’s Director of the School of Writing, Literature, and Film, admires Whitehead’s ability to “narrativise history in a compelling way,” saying the author has a “literary deftness” that’s energizing when taken in concert with how rapidly he produces work.
Whitehead’s prolificacy in the middle of his career is one reason why I’m excited to meet and learn from him when he visits campus in the spring. His large volume of work at this stage in his career makes Whitehead unique amongst the recipients. “In previous iterations of the Stone Award,” Director Betjemann explains, “we really leaned heavily on the lifetime literary achievement element of the award. This time around, while still insisting the writer have a kind of lifetime of achievement, we actively sought out somebody who was a little closer to mid career despite having a very full resumé of accomplishments.”
Director Betjemann hopes students, faculty, and community members will be prepared with questions to engage with Whitehead around the variety, volume, and impact of his work. Visits from the Stone Award recipients are a valuable opportunity to connect with writers who wouldn’t normally stop by Corvallis on a typical book tour.
On Whitehead’s varied body of work, Susan Rodgers, Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing and Associate Professor, says he “takes on a new literary genre and makes it his own—he never tells the same story twice and never tells a story in the same way.” To Professor Rodgers, “that kind of energy and inventiveness is inspiring.” And to students, especially those in the Creative Writing program, the variety in Whitehead’s work is heartening.
Prior to Whitehead’s visit in the spring, professors in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film will be introducing his books to their curriculum in the fall, so students are exposed to his work. His visit coincides with the 2019 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference held in Portland. Whitehead will deliver the keynote address and then travel to Corvallis on April 1 to accept the award and read from his work. With Whitehead’s popularity, attendance should be high.
Professor Rodgers notes, “what always excites me most about the Stone Award is the amazing turnout from both OSU and the wider Corvallis community. I love that we bring these highly esteemed writers to our campus, and hundreds of people show up to hear them talk about and read from their work. It makes me grateful to live and work here.”
As a student of writing, it makes a difference not just to read important works but to engage with living writers and their writing. I’m also grateful to have numerous opportunities to connect with and learn from practicing authors. OSU makes a significant effort to enhance community access to writers, and I’m grateful for that accessibility during these formative years of my education. As I look forward to the spring, I know Whitehead’s visit will be high on my calendar.