Washington Wins Gaines Award

Nov 13, 2019

Houston writer Bryan Washington’s debut book, Lot, a collection of short stories, has been named winner of the 2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. The award will be presented to Washington at 6:30 p.m. on January 30 at the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge. Doors open at 6 p.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public, although reservations are requested at gainesaward@braf.org.

The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence is a $15,000 prize given annually by Baton Rouge Area Foundation donors to recognize outstanding work from promising African-American fiction writers, while honoring the late Louisiana native Ernest Gaines’ extraordinary contribution to the literary world. Gaines died November 5 at his home in Oscar, La., at the age of 86.