Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, distinguished professor of creative writing, has received the 2023 Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture.
Hedge Coke attended the event at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Wednesday, Oct. 3. The recognition distinguishes contemporary writers who embody the late Thomas Clayton Wolfe, one of UNC’s most notable alums. Wolfe is best known for his novel “Look Homeward, Angel,” which was published to rave reviews in 1929. Before his death in 1938, Wolfe also published “Of Time and the River” (1935).
"This honor has touched me profoundly. Wolfe's legacy, the namesake prize recipients —giants — previously awarded, all of this incredible consideration gives me such staggering peace of mind and immense passion of heart. It's stunning,” said Hedge Coke, who is serving as UCR’s 2024 Writers Week director. Her most recent book, “Look at this Blue” has received many accolades. “I am so full of gratitude and also have deep empathy for all who meet the day not knowing how it will end, and end up writing their way through every moment."
The prize is an entirely internal nomination and procedure, a process that Hedge Coke said is an “incredible marker for me and I believe I may be the first so named while teaching in the UC system (though at least one former faculty member was awarded, Percival Everette).”
Past award recipients include Sandra Cisneros, Reynolds Price, Roy Blount, Jr., and George Garrett; Hedge Coke is a former awardee of the George Garrett Award for service to the literary field in North America and beyond from Associate Writing Programs and Writers (AWP).
“For the whole of her astonishing literary career, memoirist, poet, and activist Allison Adelle Hedge Coke has embodied a deep commitment to the land and the people who are often overlooked as they work its fields, fish its waters, and try to make a life amidst seemingly impossible obstacles,” the Thomas Wolfe committee wrote. “Having worked in manual labor until she was 30 years old — in fields, factories, commercial fishing, construction, and cleaning — Hedge Coke brings a compassionate and unflinching perspective on the lives of everyday people in her poems, nonfiction, and activist work.”