His debut story collection, Insurrections (University Press of Kentucky, 2016), was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Hillsdale Award from the.

Although Cross River's residents may be halted or deterred in their search for fulfillment, their spirits remain resilient - always evolving and constantly moving. Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collection, The World Doesn’t Require You (Norton/Liveright, August 2019), a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Writing with a delivery and dialect that are intense and unapologetically current, Scott presents characters who dare to make their own choices - choices of kindness or cruelty - in the depths of darkness and hopelessness. The Insurrections is a collection of thirteen stories dealing with societal constructs and the constant, quiet push against them. In Insurrections, Rion Amilcar Scott's lyrical prose authentically portrays individuals growing up and growing old in an African American community. Raw, edgy, and unrelenting yet infused with forgiveness, redemption, and humor, the stories in this collection explore characters suffering the quiet tragedies of everyday life and fighting for survival. These are just a few glimpses into the world of the residents of the fictional town of Cross River, Maryland, a largely black settlement founded in 1807 after the only successful slave revolt in the United States. The white pieces go first so they got an advantage over the black pieces.' A chess match between a girl and her father turns into a master class about life, self-realization, and pride: 'Now hold on little girl. A man seeking to save his estranged, drug-addicted brother from the city's underbelly confronts his own mortality.

A man seeking to save his estranged, drug-addicted brother from the city's underbelly confronts his own mortality. Insurrections: Stories a book by Rion Amilcar Scott A suicidal father looks to an older neighbor - and the Cookie Monster - for salvation and sanctuary as his life begins to unravel. A suicidal father looks to an older neighbor - and the Cookie Monster - for salvation and sanctuary as his life begins to unravel.

Insurrections by Rion Amilcar Scott