Shara McCallum, has been awarded the prestigious silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

McCallum is also the Penn State Laureate for 2021-2022.

The Musgrave Medal, akin to the United States’ Presidential Medal of Freedom, honors Jamaican individuals for demonstrated excellence in their respective fields of literature, arts and science. Established in 1889, it is the oldest award of its kind to be bestowed in the Western Hemisphere.

According to a release from the Institute of Jamaica announcing the 2021 Musgrave Medal awardees, McCallum, who is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English was selected for “extensive high-quality work in relation to her numerous collections and accolades. She was also recognized as being a nurturer of Jamaican talent.

Originally from Jamaica, McCallum has authored six books and has had poems and essays published in journals, anthologies and textbooks throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Israel.

Awards received by McCallum

In addition to the Musgrave Medal, she has received the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for her book, “Madwoman”; a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress; a Poetry Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Oran Robert Perry Burke Award for Nonfiction; and the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize for her first book, “The Water Between Us.”

McCallum’s latest book, “No Ruined Stone” released in the U.K. by Peepal Tree Press in July and in the U.S. by Alice James Books on August 10,  is a novel-in-verse that offers a speculative account of history based on a thread from the life of well-known Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

As the 2021-2022 Penn State Laureate, McCallum will read from “No Ruined Stone” and her other works, offer writing workshops and introduce other poets to members of the Penn State community and Pennsylvania residents throughout the academic year.