Local writer’s ‘Jiu Jitsu’ essay wins Hurston/Wright award
Martial arts might not be the first path one thinks of when aiming for a literary award, but that’s the topic with which local essayist Melanie Farmer brought one home.
“Rolling: A Ladies’ Guide to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” won the top prize of the 2020 Crossover Award from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. The award, which includes $2,000 cash and tuition for a writing workshop with the foundation, was cosponsored by ESPN’s sports-and-culture website The Undefeated.
“When I came across this competition, I thought there was a nice connection to some of my work that happens to be about sports,” said Farmer, 36.
A Winter Springs resident, Farmer grew up in Oviedo. The Georgia native graduated this spring from UCF with her MFA in Creative Writing. In addition to hosting local literary events in connection with Orlando’s Burrow Press, she teaches at a local preparatory school.
Named for writers Hurston and Wright, the foundation is dedicated to mentoring and honoring black writers, which was one of the factors that drew Farmer to compete. “I became interested because of their focus on recognizing contemporary black authors at various points in their careers,” she said. “The Hurston/Wright Foundation … is championing the voices of black writers and highlighting the great variety to be found within the work of many black writers.”
The contest was judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead. “When I found out about the win I was actually just finishing up teaching a class in which we were reading Colson Whitehead’s ‘The Underground Railroad,’” said Farmer. “I got the news that he was the judge of the award the afternoon after having an awesome discussion about his work with my high school students. I was surprised and excited to know that he had read my work.”
Farmer’s essay is a wry take on the writer’s experience with martial arts training and the strain this activity put on her relationship with her mother. “Really, this piece is about being misunderstood,” she said. “On its surface it seems to be about a struggle for individuality, but at its heart, I hope it’s about the necessity of pushing forward even if you’re not able to share the significance of your journey with others.”
While the topic may seem very personal, Farmer wrote the essay in second person as a kind of fictional guide with headings and footnotes. “I like the way [second person] allows for a sort of aerial view,” she said. “On a reader’s end, I feel sometimes like reading the word ‘you’ over and over involuntarily makes you participate more closely with the journey of the essay.”
Farmer is taking this win as an encouragement to keep going with her career. “Professionally, since the award recognizes not just this essay but my potential to make a long-term contribution to the writing world, it’s an honor that motivates me to keep writing and taking steps to get my work out into the world,” she said.
In times such as the turmoil that has arisen following the death of George
Floyd in Minneapolis, Farmer stresses that literature has an important role to play.
“In the past months of upheaval in our country, I have noticed people turning to history, statistics, science, and social science to help explain how we got here,” she said. “These things are important. But I also think creative work can do much to close the gaps between us.”