Photo credit: Natalie Scenters-Zapico. Photo by José Ángel 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, The Verging Cities (2016) and Lima :: Limon (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 interview by the Tampa Bay Times what she plans to do with the prize money, she shares her intention to donate a portion.
“I wouldn’t be here without my community and my community’s stories. I don’t know what organizations yet, but for sure I know that I’ll be giving a chunk of it back. It’s too important not to be giving back,” she says in the interview.
More information about the Windham Campbell Literature Prize and the 2021 winners can be found here.