Indiana University alumna Ashley Hope Pérez won the Modern Language Association's Matei Calinescu Prize for her book, Deformative Fictions: Cruelty and Narrative Ethics in Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature.
The prize, named in honor of former IU Professor Matei Calinescu, is awarded annually for a distinguished work of scholarship in twentieth- or twenty-first-century literature and thought.
Pérez's Deformative Fictions ecourages readers to expand their understandings of the value of narrative beyond the logics of utility and comfort through close readings of Latin American literature that has been misread, underread, or fetishized because they depart from literary norms.
Of the book, the MLA's selection committee said, " Peréz's powerful readings, along with her thoughtful afterword about contemporary book banning, encourage scholars 'to build capacity for reading, and defending, difficult works.'"
After completing her PhD at IU in 2014, Pérez went on to be a professor in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University, where she also serves as the World Literature Program Coordinator.
The College of Arts