Rion Amilcar Scott

Rion Amilcar Scott is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on African American/African Diaspora literature and Creative Writing, blending lyrical prose with contemporary social themes. He holds an MFA from George Mason University, where he received prestigious awards including the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award and Alumni Exemplar Award.

Scott’s work has been featured in journals such as The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, and Crab Orchard Review. His debut collection Insurrections (2016) won the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His second collection, The World Doesn’t Require You (2019), was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize.

He has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writing Conference, Kimbilio, and Colgate Writing Conference. His writing explores themes of identity, community, and resilience in African American contexts, often set in the mythic Cross River, Maryland.