CHESTERTOWN - - A 21-year-old from the Philadelphia suburbs who'd already decided he wants to pursue a life of writing walked away Sunday from Washington College's commencement with a check for nearly $69,000 - the largest literary award in the country for undergraduates.
William Bruce, a soft-spoken English major from Rydal, Pa., won the small liberal arts college's Sophie Kerr Prize with a portfolio of poems, essays and an excerpt from the memoir of a Rwandan genocide survivor.
"When I came here, I thought I wanted to be a high school English teacher," Bruce said. "But after a little while I thought it's not really what I want to do. I'd rather go out more on a limb."
Bruce was chosen by a faculty committee from among 31 students who submitted their writing for consideration. What stood out about Bruce's work was its literary range, said Professor Kathryn Moncrief, chair of the college's English department and of the prize committee.
Moncrief described Bruce's writing as "very introspective but intelligent," with "really rich imagery."
Bruce said he has been writing since elementary school. "I guess I just had a lot to say," he explained.
"We're thrilled," said his father, Rick Bruce, a chemist. "We firmly believe in pursuing passion. ... I love what I do. ... I've always told him to seek out the same thing."
His mother, Christie Bruce, a therapist and minister, helped get him started on writing the memoir of the Rwandan genocide survivor. She spotted a notice on Craigslist from someone wanting help telling his story.
William Bruce said the hours he spent interviewing the man turned the memoir from a writing project into a friendship.
"It shows a commitment to bringing a voice to the voiceless," said Joshua Wolf Shenk, Bruce's instructor in creative nonfiction and director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House. "He's got a really big heart, this kid."
Bruce said his real passion, though, is for poetry.
"I just feel like as much truth as you can find in the world, you can find it in poetry, and you can say things very, very precisely," he said.
"There's a quality to Will's work that is both lyrical and at the same time very down to earth and approachable," said Professor Jehanne Dubrow, who taught him in her poetry class.
One of the poems he submitted for the prize, "Sums," recalls a blistering hot summer:
"We stop walking, speaking, clothes off when we sleep.
