Namwali Serpell, who won the Arthur C. Clarke Award last week for her novel The Old Drift, is donating her prize money to a bail fund for protestors of Breonna Taylor’s killing, Literary Hub reports.
Serpell is giving the cash prize from the science fiction award—2,020 British pounds, or about $2,600—to the Louisville Community Bail Fund, which provides cash bail to those jailed in Kentucky, many of whom were arrested for protesting the slaying of Taylor.
Taylor, a Black woman, was shot to death in her Louisville apartment by police officers who were executing a “no-knock” warrant. A grand jury indicted one of the officers involved for “wanton endangerment,” but not for killing Taylor.
Serpell has given away prize money before. “I split the 2015 Caine Prize between the shortlisted writers as a ‘mutiny’ against the idea that writing is a competitive sport,” she wrote in a Twitter thread. “I've given back some prizes since and accepted those that I've received that don't have shortlists. I believe in being honored and being paid for one's work. I don't believe in being pitted against other artists in a kind of game with one ‘winner.’ Why is that the only model?”
“I'm honored to receive this award,” she continued. “I'm the first black woman to do so. They killed Breonna in her sleep and deemed it legal. It's all I can think about.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
