Michael R. Jackson, Nathan Alan Davis and More Announced as Recipients of 2021 Windham-Campbell Prizes for Drama

Today, Yale University announced the eight recipients of the 2021 Windham-Campbell Prizes. The writers were honored for their literary achievement or promise, and each will receive $165,000 to support their work.

The prize recipients are: in nonfiction, Vivian Gornick (United States) and Kate Briggs (United Kingdom/Netherlands); in fiction, Dionne Brand (Canada/Trinidad & Tobago) and Renee Gladman (United States); in poetry, Canisia Lubrin (St. Lucia/Canada) and Natalie Scenters-Zapico (United States); and in drama, Nathan Alan Davis (United States) and Michael R. Jackson (United States).

Michael Kelleher, director of the Windham-Campbell Prizes, stated: "Through original and intensely moving work that challenges what we think we know about genre and style, these extraordinary writers cast a forensic eye on the issues that make us human: our identity, our history, our cultural and political experiences," said "We are incredibly proud to recognize and celebrate such exceptional literary talent."

The awards are given annually to eight authors writing in English anywhere in the world.

Michael R. Jackson holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a songwriter, he has seen his work performed at NAMT, The 24 Hour Musicals, The Barrington Stage Company, Merkin Hall, The Laurie Beechman Theater, Feinstein's/54 Below, The Triad, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, The Metropolitan Room, The Bruno Walter Library, and ACT in Seattle. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musical A Strange Loop. He wrote book and lyrics for the musical Only Children with composer Rachel Peters, book and lyrics for the musical adaptation of the 2007 horror film Teeth with composer and co-bookwriter Anna Jacobs, and is currently writing book for the musical U.G.L.Y with composer-lyricist Darius Smith. He is an alum of the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony, the Ars Nova Uncharted Writers Group, and is a Sundance Theatre Institute Composer Fellow. He is Jonathan Larson Award 2016 Finalist and is a 2016-2017 Dramatist Guild Fellow.

Nathan Alan Davis' most recent work, The Refuge Plays, is a trilogy of short plays that spans four generations of a family seeking both literal and figurative refuge in a world that is by turns cruel and indifferent. In The Wind and the Breeze, Davis uses rap, rhyme, and freestyle music to stunning effect, telling the story of Sam, a young hip hop star who feels tied to his neighborhood even while his friends urge him to pursue opportunities in the wider world. In his other plays, including Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea and Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Davis takes a philosophically and poetically rigorous approach to Black identity in America and in the African diaspora, examining how the idea of narrative plays into both-how stories tell us who we are, where we've been, and where we're going. Davis has received a Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), a Rita Goldberg Fellowship (2019), and a Whiting Award (2018). An alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Indiana University Bloomington, and the Juilliard School, he is a Lecturer in Theater and Berlind Playwright-in-Residence at Princeton University.

Watch a video of this year's recipients reacting to the news beow!