He’s a regular John Dos Passos! Or, at least, Longwood University thinks so.
The Virginia university awarded its 44th annual John Dos Passos Prize for Literature to novelist Eugene Lim — the Hunter College High School librarian.
It’s high praise.
“This is an extraordinary national recognition of Eugene’s originality and virtuosity,” said Hunter College Campus Schools Director Lisa Siegmann.
The prize honors American creative writers who have produced a body of work that, like Dos Passos, display intense and original exploration of American themes, an experimental approach to form, and an interest in the human experience. Past winners include Graham Greene (1980), Tom Wolfe (1984), Russell Banks (1985), Ernest Gaines (1993), Annie Proulx (1997), Maxine Hong Kingston (1998), Richard Powers (2003), Percival Evertt (2010), Colson Whitehead (2012), Paul Beatty (2015), and Chang-rae Lee (2017).
“Eugene Lim’s work is completely unique in its formal innovations and its elegant yet accessible prose,” said David Magill, professor of literatures of diversity and chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Longwood. “Lim manages to pack so much into every page, taking us on a wild journey of adventure with each sentence. He is breathtakingly original and a writer not to be missed.”
“It is a thrill and honor to join the formidable roster of writers who have received the Dos Passos Prize, which has consistently recognized formally adventurous work,” Lim said. “I’m deeply grateful to the judges and to my colleagues at Hunter College High School for their support.”
Lim’s novels include Search History (2021), Dear Cyborgs (2017), and The Strangers (2013). He was selected from five finalists.
Lim’s writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, The Baffler, Granta, Triple Canopy, Dazed, Little Star, The Denver Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, Your Impossible Voice, and Vestiges, among others. He has taught at Columbia University, Long Island University and Queens College. Alongside his job at Hunter College High School, he serves as managing editor and publisher of Ellipsis Press, a publisher of innovative fiction. He lives in Jackson Heights.
