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Hecimovich’s biography of Hannah Crafts receives Phi Beta Kappa Book Award
Gregg Hecimovich, Department of English, at an event in January 2024.
To say Furman University English Professor Gregg Hecimovich has had a banner year is putting it mildly. Last October, Hecimovich released “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of the Bondwoman’s Narrative,” and the biography of the first known Black woman novelist has since seen a steady stream of awards.
The latest comes from the Phi Beta Kappa society in the Christian Gauss Award, which celebrates outstanding books in literary scholarship or criticism. Considered one of the most coveted prizes in the field, the Gauss Award joins other honors recognizing “The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts”:
- Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography
- Winner of the American Book Award
- Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography
- “10 Best Books of 2023” – The Washington Post
Upon learning the news of the Gauss Award, Hecimovich said, “I was thrilled,” citing what he called “stunning” works from others on the short list. “Just to have my book mentioned in the same league was honor enough,” he added.
Hecimovich said the award is particularly meaningful because it recognizes excellence in literary criticism, and for a biography to warrant the prize, it must have a predominantly critical emphasis.
“I have loved the past biographies that have won this award, including Imani Perry’s biography of Lorraine Hansberry,” Hecimovich said. “Perry’s Hansberry biography was one of my inspirations in writing ‘Life and Times.’ So this award means the world to me.”
Even before the book’s release by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing, Hecimovich’s book made waves in the literary world, notching spots on The Millions’ “most anticipated books” and on the Los Angeles Times’ list of must-reads.
The book explores the authorship of “The Bondwoman’s Narrative,” a manuscript written between 1856 and 1858 by a then unknown enslaved woman. After being hidden away for 150 years, the manuscript was purchased at auction by Henry Louis Gates Jr. who published it in 2002.
Hecimovich invested 20 years of meticulous research into finding the true identity and life story of the author, Hannah Bond, by scouring archives, poring over bits and pieces of forensic evidence (like watermarks, thimble impressions, and ink varieties), listening to kitchen-table oral histories and combing through a satchel of random papers and letters from descendants of the Wheeler family in North Carolina where Hannah was enslaved.
It was there in Hertford County that Hannah Bond gained rare access to books and literature that propelled her to literacy, fueling her drive to tell her story through a fictional lens. With the likely help of a Wheeler family member, she would escape North to build a new family and new identity as Hannah Crafts, a free woman.
Humbled by the recognition, Hecimovich said, “I want to emphasize that my Hannah Crafts biography owes everything to the descendant communities of Bertie and Hertford County, North Carolina, who generously shared the documents and oral history that allowed me to recover Hannah Crafts’s life story. Community memory is a powerful and shaping force, and it is also an under-utilized source for exploring literary history.”
Learn more about Hecimovich’s process and what inspires him in a Furman News story.