When Esinam Bediako submitted the manuscript for her debut novel, “Blood on the Brain,” for consideration for the Ann Petry Award, she didn’t think she’d be in the running for the top prize.
The prize, founded in 2020 by Pasadena-based Red Hen Press and the Peauxdunque Writers Alliance, awards $3,000 to a work of fiction by a Black author. Bediako, whose work was judged by author Deesha Philyaw, did win. The award also comes with another perk: publication of the book by Red Hen.
“I wasn’t really thinking I was going to win it,” Bediako says. “I was just trying to get myself back out there by telling myself, ‘If I set a deadline and submit my work to something, I’m going to get in the habit of doing that.’”