Dr. Kesho Scott, a Grinnell College professor, was recently selected for an Archill Heinrich
Cottage Residency in Ireland for 2014. The program honors German novelist Heinrich Böll,
winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1972.
She will join the ranks of artists and writers who have benefited from the Böll legacy since his
death in 1985. Mr. Böll wrote about the seclusion and inspiration of Archill Island in An Irish
Diary (1957).
Dr. Scott will work on a collection of stories based on "personal experiences, dreams, political
activism, and travels." Her previous recognition includes the American Book Award for Tight
Spaces (1988) and the Human Rights Award for The Habit of Survival: Black Women in
America (1991).
An Associate Professor of American Studies and Sociology, Scott, who received her PhD in
American Studies from the University of Iowa, has taught at Grinnell College since 1986, and
was the first Black female faculty member tenured there. She is a former Fulbright Fellow to
Ethiopia and currently lectures in Beijing and Shanghai, China in the summers. She was awarded
the Christine Wilson's Medal for Justice and Equality in 2008 for work on diversity and
democracy, Dr. Scott also has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Sonya Live, and CNN.
The Archill Heinrich Cottage Residency recipients are selected through a competitive process by
a local committee and the Mayo Co. Council, The Arts Council of Ireland, The Heinrich Böll
Foundation, Germany, and the family of Heinrich Böll. The Residency, contingent upon funding
from the Achill Heinrich Böll Association, expects participants to keep Heinrich Böll's artistic
legacy alive through local readings and exhibitions.
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