Photo credit: Natalie Scenters-Zapico. Photo by Jos茅 脕ngel Maldonado.
Assistant Professor Natalie Scenters-Zapico was recently awarded the prestigious Windham Campbell Literature Prize at Yale University. The prize recognizes her two collections of poetry,鈥�The Verging Cities鈥�(2016) and鈥�Lima :: Limon鈥�(2019). It also comes with an unrestricted grant of $165,000.
Having spent most of her life growing up in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Scenters-Zapico writes about her borderlands experience and the challenges of undocumented status.
As only one of eight 2021 winners, Scenters-Zapico notes that she did not even realize she was a candidate for the prize. When asked in a recent what she plans to do with the prize money, she shares her intention to donate a portion.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be here without my community and my community鈥檚 stories. I don鈥檛 know what organizations yet, but for sure I know that I鈥檒l be giving a chunk of it back. It鈥檚 too important not to be giving back,鈥� she says in the interview.
More information about the Windham Campbell Literature Prize and the 2021 winners can be found .