Show-Me State Times

Saint Louis University's Amy E. Wright, Ph.D., has been recognized with an honorable mention by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) for the Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize. This accolade is awarded for outstanding books published in English or Spanish in the field of Latin American and Spanish literatures and cultures.

The 2024 Kovacs Prize was given to Catherine Brown, a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for her work "Remember the Hand: Manuscription in Early Medieval Iberia," published by Fordham University Press. Sharing the honorable mention with Wright is Isabel C. Gómez from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, for "Cannibal Translation: Literary Reciprocity in Contemporary Latin America," published by Northwestern University Press.

“I am deeply honored to receive this honorable mention,” Wright stated. “I am humbled to be included in this impressive cohort of scholars. This recognition is particularly meaningful to me as it highlights the importance of rigorous scholarship and the celebration of diverse cultural narratives.”

The MLA award committee praised Wright's book "Serial Mexico: Storytelling across Media, from Nationhood to Now" as a "masterful analysis of transmedial serial storytelling." The committee noted that it offers innovative analyses on how serialized narratives have shaped consumer engagement with various texts over time.

Wright's research was supported by an individual fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2022. These fellowships are highly competitive and support advanced research projects in humanities across the United States.

With a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and advanced degrees from Brown University, Wright's research delves into print culture and popular seriality in Latin America, focusing on Mexican media studies.

"Serial Mexico" examines how serialized storytelling reflects crucial cultural concerns such as family dynamics, gender roles, racial mixing, urbanization, modernization, and political idealism. It draws on historical records and popular culture to explore these themes through various media forms like radionovelas and podcasts.

“Many countries have serialized storytelling or characters that reappear in different forms,” Wright explained. “Mexico has a particularly strong tradition."

The MLA will honor winners at its annual meeting scheduled for January 9-12 in New Orleans.

Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association supports language and literature professionals worldwide through publications and conventions. More information about their programs can be found at www.mla.org.