Dawnie Walton

Dawnie Walton
Dawnie Walton in 2024
Alma materUniversity of Iowa
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • journalist
Writing career
Notable workThe Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Notable awardsAspen Words Literary Prize (2022)
Websitedawniewalton.com

Dawnie Walton (born 1976 or 1977) is an American journalist and novelist. She is known for her novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, which won the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize and the 2022 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Education and life

Walton was born in the 1970s and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where she attended Stanton College Preparatory School. She went to college at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, a historically Black university, and she received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[1]

She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.[1][2]

Career

Journalism

In 1994, Walton began her career in journalism after graduating high school interning for The Florida Times-Union — she wrote for the Teen Rap section of the paper that existed at the time. Her journalism career continued after college at The Oregonian in Portland and The Washington Post in D.C. She then moved to New York City, where she worked as a magazine editor for a number of publications, including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE.[1][2][3]

Writing

Walton published her debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, in 2021 to critical acclaim. The book covers the fictionalized oral history of a 1970s interracial rock duo. She was inspired to write the book after seeing the documentary 20 Feet from Stardom about backing vocalists. It features Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt singing with the Talking Heads.[1][3]

Walton wrote this novel over seven years, for much of that time working on it before or after her day job. Walton was working as the deputy managing editor at Essence in 2015 when she decided to leave her job to work on the novel full-time.[3][4]

While working on this novel, Walton attended writing residencies at MacDowell Colony and the Tin House Summer Workshop,[2] and she received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2013.[1][5]

The novel won the 2022 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award,[6] the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award,[7] and the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize.[3] The book was named one of the best books of 2021 by The Washington Post, NPR, Esquire, and Barack Obama. The audiobook version of the novel won the 2022 Audie Award for Fiction.[6]

Short story startup

After publishing her first novel, Walton co-founded a new startup with Longreads founder Mark Armstrong and author Deesha Philyaw. The startup, called Ursa, aims to celebrate and promote short fiction by underrepresented authors through a website, a podcast, and publishing—including publishing audio stories. Walton and Philyaw host the podcast together.[8]

Awards and honors

In 2021, Barack Obama and Booklist included The Final Revival of Opal & Nev on their lists of the year's best books.[9][10]

Awards for Walton's writing
Year Title Award Category Result Ref.
2021 The Final Revival of Opal & Nev Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize Fiction Longlisted [11]
Goodreads Choice Award Debut Novel Nominated—13th [12]
Goodreads Choice Award Historical Fiction Nominated—13th [13]
2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize — Won [3]
Audie Award Best Fiction Won [14]
First Novelist Award — Won [15]
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award — Nominated [16]
Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award — Won [17]
Women's Prize for Fiction — Longlisted [18][19]


Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Soergel, Matt (May 28, 2021). "3 Black women from Jacksonville debut acclaimed books, become friends". The Florida Times-Union. Archived from the original on 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith, Mychal Denzel (2022-10-13). "Dawnie Walton in Praise of Say Anything's Gangly, Vulnerable Male Lead". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Travers, Andrew (22 April 2022). "Dawnie Walton's 'Opal and Nev' wins Aspen Words prize". aspentimes.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  4. ↑ Gross, Terry (May 24, 2021). "'70s Music Journalism Gets An Overdue Rewrite In Debut Novel 'Opal & Nev'". NPR. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  5. ↑ Dukes, Will (2022-04-14). "Dawnie Walton on Her Music-Obsessed Novel and Liking Whatever the Hell She Wants". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  6. 1 2 "Dawnie Walton wins the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for 'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev'". VCU Libraries. July 1, 2022. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  7. ↑ Dunne, Susan (2022-10-24). "Dawnie Walton's 'Final Revival of Opal & Nev' wins Mark Twain award". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  8. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (2022-06-10). "The Book Pages: 'Opal & Nev' author Dawnie Walton talks Ursa, a new short story startup". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  9. ↑ "POTUS44's Reading List: Obama's Favorite Books of 2021". Shelf Awareness. 2021-12-16. Archived from the original on 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  10. ↑ Seaman, Donna (November 1, 2021). "Top 10 First Novels: 2021". Booklist Online. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  11. ↑ "Longlist for the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize Announced". Bklyner. 2021-08-26. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  12. ↑ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Debut Novel!". Goodreads. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  13. ↑ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Historical Fiction!". Goodreads. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  14. ↑ "2022 Audie Awards®". Homepage (in Audio Publishers Association). Retrieved 2026-08-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  15. ↑ Brogan, Mary Kate (2022-07-01). "Dawnie Walton wins the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for 'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev'". VCU News. Virginia Commonwealth University. Archived from the original on 2023-05-26. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  16. ↑ "The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award". African American Literature Book Club. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  17. ↑ "Awards: Mark Twain American Voice Winner; Readings Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2022-10-31. Archived from the original on 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
  18. ↑ "Five minutes with: Dawnie Walton". Women's Prize for Fiction. 22 April 2022. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Awards: Women's Fiction, Plutarch Longlists". Shelf Awareness. 2022-03-09. Archived from the original on 2022-10-27. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
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