Black Gods of the Asphalt author Onaje Woodbine finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award
Onaje X Woodbine has been named to the longlist (https://pen.org/literature/2017-penespn-award-literary-sports-writing) for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing for a book he wrote based on his PhD Dissertation in the GDRS. Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball, which was published by Columbia University Press in May 2016 is the only book on the longlist not published by a trade press. Onaje, who is now on the Philosophy & Religious Studies faculty at Phillips Academy Andover, also adapted the book for a stage play, which was produced at Andover in May and at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa in June.
The book has been covered in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/sports/basketball/onaje-xo-woodbine-back-to-basketball.html?_r=0
and the Boston Globe
https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2016/06/05/centered-court/K8n496eTuK5p5DolNiHTqJ/story.html
and NPR’s “All Things Considered”
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/05/479603305/black-gods-of-the-asphalt-takes-basketball-beyond-the-court
Other books on the longlist include Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X and the New York Times bestseller American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner’s Legendary Rise. The winner of the award, which honors books that are “of a biographical, investigative, historical, or analytical nature and of the strongest literary character,” will be announced in February.