United States Artists has announced fiction writer Lesley Nneka Arimah as one of the winners of its coveted 2019 USA Fellowships, $50,000 unrestricted awards “recognising artists for their contributions to the field, and allowing them to decide how to best support their lives.” In other words, she can use the money however she sees fit.
According to the Minneapolis Post, she was announced alongside painter and mixed-media artist Dyani White Hawk, who like Arimah, resides in Minneapolis.
Also on the list are avant-pop musician and performer Helado Negro, multi-instrumentalist and composer Roscoe Mitchell and vocalist and composer Jen Shyu.
Arimah is a Nigerian writer and winner of the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa, who has twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize. Her debut collection of short stories was published by Riverhead Books and Tinder Press (UK) in April 2017.
‘Light’, her story won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa. In 2016 and 2017, she was shortlisted for the Caine Prize.
