Prof Jay Dolmage wins Prose Award for book on rhetoric and disability

The Faculty of Arts congratulates Professor Jay Dolmage whose first book Disability Rhetoric was recognized with a Prose Award yesterday at a ceremony in Washington DC.

Prose Award winners are selected annually from a vast pool of nominated publications. The award recognizes the “greatest works in professional and scholarly publishing […] that change how we understand the world around us and benefit our society through the sharing of knowledge” states the Association of American Publishers, the organization behind the awards.

Disability Rhetoric won the Language and Linguistics category and was an Honourable Mention in the overall Humanities category - selected by a 14-member judging committee made up of peer scholars, publishers and librarians. 

 “This award means a lot to me,” says Dolmage, “because the committee said they wanted to choose books that also had the potential to create lasting social change -- and that is my highest possible goal for the book: to be something that helps to create a more equitable, accessible, and diverse society by recognizing the value and importance and centrality of disability.”

Disability Rhetoric was published in 2014 by Syracuse University Press and has been extensively reviewed since its release, with comments including:

• "Disability Rhetoric relentlessly asserts disability as a powerful and dynamic rhetorical force." 
• "There is no doubt in my mind that in the years to come Disability Rhetoric will be foundational to scholars in rhetoric studies, as well as to scholars working at the intersections of rhetoric studies with disability studies, queer studies, critical race theory, and post humanist thought.”

Jay Dolmage is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature and the editor of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies.