honors
AWARDS
Won
The Drue Heinz Literature Prize ~ 2024
The Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Prize ~ 2022
Kalemba Short Story Prize ~ 2019
Dinaane Debut Fiction Award ~ 2018/2019
Finalist
The African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize ~ 2023
Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize Series in Fiction ~ 2022
Minnesota Author Project ~ 2022
Shortlist
Commonwealth Short Story Prize ~ 2022
Nobrow Short Story Prize ~ 2020
Bristol Short Story Prize ~ 2019
FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS
Won
Miles Morland Scholarship ~ 2023
Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writer-in-Residence Fellowship ~ 2023
Mercatus Center Don Lavoie Fellowship ~ 2023/2024
Shenandoah Fellowship for BIPOC Editors ~ 2023/2024
1000 Voices Program, Every Woman Treaty ~ 2022
Jacobson Scholar (Hawkinson Fund for Peace and Justice) ~ 2021/2022
Deborah Keenan Poetry Scholarship (Hamline University) ~ 2021
Writer of Color Merit Scholarship (Hamline University) ~ 2020 - 2023
Hubert H. Humphrey (Fulbright) Fellowship ~ 2018/2019
Young African Leaders Initiative ~ 2017
Semi-finalist
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative ~ 2022
Shortlist
Miles Morland Scholarship ~ 2022
Miles Morland Scholarship ~ 2021
Other Honors
Debutiful's 25 Most Anticipated Books of 2024
Anoka County Library Featured Author ~ 2023
Tusculum University Writer in Residence ~ 2022
Brittle Paper’s Top 15 Debut Books of 2019
Dreamers Creative Writing Competition (Honorable Mention) ~ 2019