Stories made Elwin Cotman want to be an author from a young age, but the narratives he loved weren’t on the printed page.
“I was a couch potato when I was a child. I spent a lot of time watching TV, playing video games,” said Cotman. “That always sort of inspired me, I think — especially inspired me to write fantasy.”
At just 4 years old, the Penn Hills native started writing stories on his dad’s typewriter in the late 1980s, and eventually upgraded to a “high-tech” word processor his mother bought him.
Now 41 and living in Oakland, Calif., Cotman is an established author with four collections of short stories to his name — “The Jack Daniels Session EP,” “Hard Times Blues,” “Dance on Saturday” and, most recently, “Weird Black Girls,” published in April 2024. His debut novel, “The Age of Ignorance,” will release in 2026.
On Wednesday evening at the 40th Whiting Awards, he added a new distinction to his growing resume by receiving a Whiting Award for his work in fiction writing.
The awards have been given annually by the New York City-based Whiting Foundation since 1985 to recognize “excellence and promise in a spectrum of emerging talent” that includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama.
Cotman was among 10 recipients to receive a $50,000 cash prize to “fulfill the promise of exceptional literary work to come,” according to a foundation press release.
“I haven’t won an award since I was 12 years old and I never really expected it,” he said.
Cotman wasn’t the only Pennsylvanian among the recipients.
Samuel Kọlawọle, an assistant professor of English and African studies at Penn State University, also received a Whiting Award for fiction. Born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, Kolawole is the author of the 2024 novel “The Road to the Salt Sea.”
He is a Vermont College of Fine Arts graduate with a master’s degree in writing and publishing from Georgia State University as well as a doctorate in English and creative writing. Kolawole currently teaches fiction writing at Penn State.
The other Whiting Award winners are: Liza Birkenmeier, drama; Emil Ferris, fiction (graphic); Claire Luchette, fiction; Karisma Price, poetry; Aisha Sabatini Sloan, nonfiction; Shubha Sunder, fiction; Sofi Thanhauser, nonfiction; and Annie Wenstrup, poetry.
Cotman graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in writing. In 2012, he received a master’s degree in writing from Mills College in Oakland, Calif.
He said he knew he wanted to be a writer at age 7. He connected with the worlds found in the animated TV series “The Raccoons” and “The Smurfs” and the Bible, which became source material for some of his childhood comics.
The storytelling in the video games Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda also propelled his interests in narratives.
“Even playing, say Zelda, I’m always in the characters’ heads and I’m thinking in my mind. I’m narrating an adventure like, ‘Oh, we just did this and then we’re going to do this and this reminds me of this,’” Cotman said.
“So even though I’m playing a game, in my mind, there’s a story going on and I always connected with that aspect.”
His writing method is unique: He has a tendency to jot down notes in his phone, then copies them to paper. From there, he types them onto a computer.
“I’ll go back and I’ll edit it and I won’t move on until every single sentence is satisfactory to me,” Cotman said.
“I’m always thinking: Now that I have an idea, what form does this take?’ And once I establish a form, then I can move back and forth and apply different elements as I go forward.”
Cotman is now writing a play, in an “entirely new horizon” for him.
His success as an author has taught him not to sell himself — or his stories — short.
“If I could give any advice to young writers, it’s to find partners,” he said. “Find people who are on your wavelength. Find people to be creative with and don’t second guess your own desires, your own dreams. Just go for them.”
First Published: April 10, 2025, 12:30 a.m.
Updated: April 10, 2025, 2:00 a.m.
