HWS News
18 July 2023 • Faculty DUNN’S NOVEL WINS WHIPPOORWILL BOOK AWARD
Vicious is My Middle Name has been recognized with the annual award honoring the most distinguished rural young adult and middle grade books.
Professor of International Relations Kevin Dunn’s first novel for young adults Vicious Is My Middle Name has been selected for the Whippoorwill Book Award.
Given annually, the Whippoorwill honors the 10 most distinguished rural young-adult and middle-grade books published in English during the preceding year. The award’s mission is to advocate for books that portray the complexity of rural living by dispelling stereotypes and demonstrating diversity among rural people.
Vicious is My Middle Name is a coming-of-age story about a teenage outcast punk rocker who finds her community after moving to the Appalachian Mountains. The book was released by Regal House Publishing/Fitzroy Books in November 2022. This spring, the novel was a Finalist for Juvenile Fiction in the 2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
In the non-fiction realm, Dunn has produced a wide-ranging body of scholarship examining international relations theory, African politics, and punk rock around the world. His research focuses predominantly on the African Great Lakes Region (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania) and issues in that region concerning security, development,regionalization/globalization and international relations. He is the author of nearly a dozen books, including Inside African Politics (second edition, 2019); Africa’s Insurgents: Navigating an Evolving Landscape (2017, co-edited with Morten Bas) and Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life (2016).
