Center for African American Poetry and Poetics creative writing fellow wins 2018 Whiting Award

Rickey Laurentiis — the inaugural fellow in creative writing in the Department of English’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics — is one of 10 writers in the nation awarded a 2018 Whiting Award. Granted annually in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama, the $50,000 award is based on early career accomplishments and potential for continued success.

Laurentiis’ debut poetry collection, “Boy with Thorn,” won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Levis Reading Prize and the Julie Suk Award. His work has been published in such notable publications as the Boston Review, The New York Times,and The Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly. Laurentiis is Pitt’s second recent Whiting Award winner; English lecturer Jenny Johnson won the award in 2015.