Contact information
Name:
Jen Gilmore
Email:
gilmorjw@lafayette.edu
Categories:
When:
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 - 4:15pm - 6:15pm
Where:
Gendebien Room
Presenter:
Mikael Awake
The winner and honorable mentions of our student Flash Fiction Contest will be invited to read their work along with the judge, Samuel Kọ́láwọlé, on November 12th. A reception and book signing will follow.
Samuel Kọ́láwọlé was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. His debut novel, The Road to the Salt Sea, won the 2025 Whiting Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the International Book Awards, was longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize, and is currently a finalist for the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. His work has also been recognized as a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, and the UK’s First Novel Prize.
He studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and went on to earn graduate degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Georgia State University, where he completed his PhD in English and Creative Writing. He now teaches fiction writing as an assistant professor of English and African studies at Pennsylvania State University and recently joined the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers as a faculty member.
Sponsored by:
The English department