Newsroom: A.J. Verdelle Named 2024 Aminah Robinson Writing Resident
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thursday, February 22, 2024 — The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is pleased to announce A.J. Verdelle as the 2024 Aminah Robinson Writing Resident. The author will spend three months working in Robinson’s renovated home studio in Columbus, as well as receive a $15,000 cash award. During her residency, Verdelle will continue developing her forthcoming novel, titled Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, centering Black cowboys in the American West.
Established in 2022, the annual Aminah Robinson Writer Residency supports African American writers, scholars, and researchers in commemoration of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson’s deep research and writing practices. The Writer Residency is one of three residency and fellowship programs organized within the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project, established by CMA in 2020 to honor Robinson’s vast creative contributions and further her multifaceted legacy.
Verdelle currently serves as Associate Professor of English and Language Arts at Morgan State University and has previously taught at Lesley University and Princeton University. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch will be the author’s third book, following The Good Negress (1996), a coming-of-age story of a young woman set in 1960s Detroit, and Miss Chloe (2022), a memoir which chronicles the author’s influential friendship with Toni Morrison — another celebrated Ohioan — whom Verdelle worked alongside at Princeton. In addition to her novel and memoir, Verdelle’s essays have been published in The New York Times and The Nation, among other publications, as well as by museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the High Museum of Art, and the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
“It’s a great gift to have the opportunity to come to Columbus and take inspiration from Aminah Robinson’s highly resonant practice, which will undoubtedly add further dimension to my third book,” said 2024 Aminah Robinson Writing Resident, A.J. Verdelle. “The Aminah Robinson Legacy Project is a testament to the Columbus community’s commitment to the arts and to honoring Robinson’s career, and I look forward to connecting with the community and cherish this dedicated time as I orchestrate completion of Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch.”
Informed by African American cultural traditions, Robinson’s expansive practice spanned sculpture, multimedia works, paintings, drawings, prints, button-beaded dolls, handmade books, illustrated journals, and published children’s books, reflecting the rich scope of her artistic vision and enduring influence across the arts. Following the artist’s passing in 2015, she bequeathed her art, writings, home, and personal property in trust to CMA, and the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project has subsequently been designed around three, ever-growing initiatives: documentation, preservation, and exhibitions of Robinson’s work; the renovation and support of her home studio; and artist fellowships and residencies supporting the next generation of African American artists, writers, researchers, and scholars. In addition to the Writer/Scholar/Researcher Residency, the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project annually supports two African American artist residents, respectively selected from national and local pools, who each similarly receive $15,000 cash awards and three-month residencies in Robinson’s home studio.
“As a celebrated author and professor, Verdelle’s dedication to her craft and her communities echoes that of Aminah Robinson,” said 2023 Aminah Robinson Writing Resident and 2024 Jury Member Allie Martin. “Though working in different mediums, both Verdelle and Robinson share in their engagement with African American histories, crafting narratives bridging generations. The residency was deeply impactful on my own work, and Verdelle’s residency is sure to spark a wealth of new connections with Robinson’s practice as well.”
Verdelle was selected by a jury comprised of scholars and writing professionals, including Allie Martin, 2023 Aminah Robinson Writing Resident and Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College; Sally Crane Cox, publisher, journalist, and cofounder of Matriots Ohio; Scott Woods, author, poet, and founder of Streetlight Guild; and Treva Lindsey, author and Professor at The Ohio State University.
About A.J. Verdelle
A.J. Verdelle is an accomplished author with a significant literary presence. She has published two notable works, including a recent memoir titled Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison and a critically acclaimed novel titled The Good Negress. The Good Negress was recognized in USA Today as one of the 100 most important Black novels and garnered numerous national honors, including the Whiting Writers prize, the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award for Distinguished Prose Fiction, and recognition as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the IMPAC Dublin, and PEN Faulkner prizes.
Verdelle most recently published an essay in The Atlantic exploring the themes of race, religion, and self-concept in Black religious practice. Verdelle has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Whitney Museum, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Verdelle is an Associate Professor, teaching creative writing, at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
About Aminah Robinson
Known for works inspired by the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa, which means to retrieve the past, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson lived and worked in Columbus, Ohio creating sculpture, large multimedia works she called RagGonNons, paintings, drawings, prints, button-beaded dolls, handmade books and illustrated journals. She also published children’s books grounded in African American ancestral legacies.
When Robinson passed away in 2015, she left her estate to the Columbus Museum of Art. In 2020, the Museum established the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project to increase awareness of her work and to place Robinson in the pantheon of the most important 20th- and 21st-century American artists where she deservedly belongs. To learn more about Aminah, you can visit our website.
About Columbus Museum of Art
CMA is where creativity and the daily life of its community intersect and thrive, as the Museum champions new and different ways of thinking and doing. CMA celebrates the creative process and sets the stage for people to experience art, ideas and relationships that spark creativity and nurture collective, courageous imagination.
CMA’s collection includes outstanding late 19th- and early 20th-century American and European modern works of art, grounded in the Ferdinand Howald and the Howard D. and Babette L. Sirak Collections. The Museum houses the world’s largest collections of works by beloved Columbus-connected artists Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Elijah Pierce and George Bellows and acclaimed collections such as The Photo League and the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art. The recently established Scantland Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art also continues CMA’s dedication to showcasing the art of our time.
The Greater Columbus Arts Council, Nationwide Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, Paul-Henri Bourguignon and Erika Bourguignon Fund for Visual Arts and Richard H. and Ann Shafer funds with the assistance of the Ingram-White Castle Foundation of The Columbus Foundation provide ongoing support.
To learn more about Aminah Robinson and her legacy at CMA, visit https://www.columbusmuseum.org/aminah-robinson-legacy-project/
