Rome Prize
AwardWikipedia
13
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
8
PODCASTS
Search complete. 13 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Rome Prize".
Oct 12, 2026
Mitzi RapkinHOST
My guest today is T. Geronimo Johnson, the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville, longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Mitzi RapkinHOST
He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.
Mitzi RapkinHOST
Johnson received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing, and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts Fellowships.
Mitzi RapkinHOST
His new book is The Occidental Book of the Dead.
Joseph BohiganGUEST
[laughs]
Pamela ZGUEST
Um, uh, is I did a piece called Simultaneous, which is a piece that, um, came out of my Rome Prize fellowship, um, year.
Pamela ZGUEST
And, uh, that piece involved...
Pamela ZGUEST
Th- that piece was actually in, in three, well, two different iterations, three different iterations really.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
[laughs]
Pamela ZGUEST
... um, uh, is, I did a piece called Simultaneous, which is a piece that, um, came out of my Rome Prize Fellowship, um, year.
Pamela ZGUEST
And, uh, that piece involved...
Pamela ZGUEST
Th- that piece was actually in, in three, well, two different iterations, three different iterations really.
Whitney TerrellHOST
Born and raised in the American South, he is the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville, long-listed for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Whitney TerrellHOST
He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.
Whitney TerrellHOST
He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.
Whitney TerrellHOST
Geronimo, welcome to the show.
Brett BennerHOST
He's the best-selling author of Welcome to Braggsville, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Brett BennerHOST
He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.
Brett BennerHOST
He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.
Brett BennerHOST
So I hope you enjoy this episode of Behind the Stack.
11 MINS LATER
Brett BennerHOST
[laughs]
T. Geronimo JohnsonGUEST
Yes.
T. Geronimo JohnsonGUEST
So I'd won the Rome Prize a few years back, so I spend a lot of time there, and right now I'm visiting my sister in Paris.
Brett BennerHOST
Nice.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
He turned to classical music instead, however, studying piano at the behest of his famous uncle, and study he did, gaining admittance to the renowned Eastman School of Music for his master's degree, which he earned in 1940.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
From 1949 to 53, he studied in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship, the Rome Prize, and a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
Despite all his accolades, a work he wrote well in Rome called Pieta was lost to history until the English horn player Animatics brought it back to the concert stage and recorded it here for all of us to enjoy.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
We'll listen to Pieta and many more selections coming up this hour here on Anytime Classical.
30 MINS LATER
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
Music of Ulysses K.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
Next, the nephew of the jazz great King Oliver.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
Even though his uncle was in the jazz world, Kay turned to classical music instead, even making it to Rome on a Fulbright scholarship, and also receiving the Rome Prize and Julian Rosenfeld Fellowship.
Denise Finnegan-HillHOST
This work, called Pieta, was lost to history until English horn player Animatics brought it back to life.
Erika B HessHOST
Nick was born in Columbiana, Ohio, and received both his BFA and MFA from Ohio State University.
Erika B HessHOST
Early in his career, he received an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship and was awarded a Rome Prize Fellowship, which allowed him to spend a year living and painting at the American Academy in Rome.
Erika B HessHOST
He later received two national endowment for the arts individual fellowships.
Erika B HessHOST
Nick taught art at Milligan College in Tennessee for more than 30 years, from 1991 until his retirement in 2022.
8 MINS LATER
Nick BlosserGUEST
And so when I was there, that environment influenced me a lot.
Nick BlosserGUEST
Where I felt like I had to kind of maybe figure out, this was maybe before, actually before I focused more primarily on landscape is the year I went to Italy and we spent a year in Rome.
Nick BlosserGUEST
I had a Rome Prize Fellowship and I was trying to paint some of the landscape around there too.
Nick BlosserGUEST
I mixed it in with some figure paintings too of different people that were around there.
Timothy HullHOST
Well, that's what I tell Corey.
Timothy HullHOST
I- we- he's like, "Oh, are you gonna apply for the Rome Prize this year?" I'm like, "No, I can't."
Gina BeaversHOST
Yeah.
Timothy HullHOST
"Because if I apply for the Rome Prize and I get it, I'm never coming back."
Gina BeaversHOST
Yeah.
Gina BeaversHOST
Never coming back.
Gina BeaversHOST
Totally, totally.
Gina BeaversHOST
Well, the thing about the... [laughs] I get it, I get it.