We are excited to announce the recipients of the 2020 Big Other Literary Citizenship Awards. This award aims to recognize outstanding efforts toward supporting the work of innovative writers and adventurous presses, through reviewing, editing, publishing, and/or promoting books, as well as encouraging, building, and sustaining a robust literary culture.

These exemplary literary citizens will be celebrated at the 2020 Big Other Book Awards Ceremony (date and location TBD).

And the awardees are: David Gutowski, Barbara Hoffert, Charles Henry Rowell, and the Feminist Press.  

David Gutowski

David Gutowski is the founding editor and publisher of Largehearted Boy, a literature and music website that “explores that spot in the Venn diagram where the two arts overlap.” His writing can be found at Longreads, McSweeney’s, The Millions, The Morning News, PBS, and elsewhere.

Barbara Hoffert

Barbara Hoffert is the editor of Library Journal‘s “Prepub Alert,” a first-buy guide to what’s new in publishing, and a former board member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Charles Henry Rowell

Charles Henry Rowell is the founder and editor of the premier literary and cultural journal of the African diaspora, Callaloo; and a professor of English at Texas A&M University (College Station). His poems, interviews, and scholarly articles have appeared in a variety of periodicals, including The Southern Review and Agni. He is the editor of Ancestral House: The Black Short Story in the Americas and Europe and co-editor (with Bruce Morrow) of Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent (1996).

Feminist Press

The Feminist Press is an educational nonprofit organization founded to advance women’s rights and amplify feminist perspectives. Gravitating toward voice- and vision-driven stories as well as genre-defying texts, they publish twelve to fifteen books a year, specializing in an array of genres including cutting-edge fiction, activist nonfiction, literature-in-translation, hybrid memoirs, children’s books, and more. They champion intersectional and nuanced works that spark much-needed dialogue and move the feminist conversation forward. Current editorial initiatives include the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, created to highlight debut work by women and nonbinary writers of color, and Amethyst Editions, a queer imprint founded by Michelle Tea.