November 12, 1999: Volume 47, Number 10

Benoit Receives Writing Prize

"I don't plan on selling any of my books," says junior Alana Benoit. "I'm trying to build up my library."

Besides adding to her book collection, the aspiring writer is adding to the list of authors she has met.

Recently, she had the chance to meet some of the stars of contemporary literature when she received the Fuller-Turner-Kent-Gail Award for Literary Criticism at the ninth annual Gwendolyn Brooks Writing Conference for Black Literature and Creative Writing in Chicago.

Among those at the Chicago conference were Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Marie Evans and Atallah Shabazz.

"I was overwhelmed being in the presence of so many prominent black writers," she said.

Benoit won the award based on her essay "Binary Oppositions: The 'Divide' Between the Talented Tenth and the Ninety Percent." In the essay she wrote originally for Prof. Carolyn Mitchell's class on Black Critical Thought, she argues that the so-called divide between black intellectuals and "the other 90 percent of black society" is more perceived than real since a number of the "talented tenth" overlap both groups.

Benoit, who is pursuing a double major in English and philosophy and a minor in Africana studies, is a graduate of A. Philip Randolph High School in New York City. Among her extracurricular

"I don't plan on selling any of my books," says junior Alana Benoit. "I'm trying to build up my library."

Besides adding to her book collection, the aspiring writer is adding to the list of authors she has met.

Recently, she had the chance to meet some of the stars of contemporary literature when she received the Fuller-Turner-Kent-Gail Award for Literary Criticism at the ninth annual Gwendolyn Brooks Writing Conference for Black Literature and Creative Writing in Chicago.

Among those at the Chicago conference were Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Marie Evans and Atallah Shabazz.

"I was overwhelmed being in the presence of so many prominent black writers," she said.

Benoit won the award based on her essay "Binary Oppositions: The 'Divide' Between the Talented Tenth and the Ninety Percent." In the essay she wrote originally for Prof. Carolyn Mitchell's class on Black Critical Thought, she argues that the so-called divide between black intellectuals and "the other 90 percent of black society" is more perceived than real since a number of the "talented tenth" overlap both groups.

Benoit, who is pursuing a double major in English and philosophy and a minor in Africana studies, is a graduate of A. Philip Randolph High School in New York City. Among her extracurricular activities, she is co-chair of the African-Latino Alliance of Students.

She plans to enter graduate school in Africana studies and then pursue a career in writing and teaching at the college level.

She plans to enter graduate school in Africana studies and then pursue a career in writing and teaching at the college level.

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