Pittsburgh author Damon Young wins 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor

Two years after the release of his book “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,” the accolades keep coming for Damon Young.

The Pittsburgh author has won the 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor. The Thurber Prize is a coveted national award named for writer and humorist James Thurber that originated in 1997.

The announcement of the 2020 Thurber Prize was delayed by the covid-19 pandemic.

The winner of the 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor is... DAMON YOUNG! ??

Damon was awarded the 2020 Thurber Prize for his memoir, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker.

Congrats to Damon & our finalists, Dave Barry & Kira Jane Buxton! ?@DamonYoungVSB @eccobooks pic.twitter.com/E5pxJpDj8G

— Thurber House (@ThurberHouse) May 22, 2021

Young, 42, was officially named the winner in a virtual ceremony Friday night. The other two other finalists for the award were novelist Kira Jane Buxton and syndicated columnist and author Dave Barry, a finalist in previous years. The winner receives $5,000 and a commemorative plaque.

Young’s immediate response to the announcement was an excited string of obscenities on Twitter followed by “more cuss words later.”

After processing the honor further, Young tweeted, “It was a tremendous honor to even be considered in a category with @KiraJaneWrites and @rayadverb (whose books were sublime). And I want to thank the @ThurberHouse and the judges for choosing my collection of diabolically ashy recollections.

“Also, I spent the prize money at Red Lobster (bought 150 Ultimate Feasts) so don’t ask for none.”

“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” received rave reviews when published in 2019.

Publishers Weekly called the memoir “darkly hilarious.” And in an NPR review, Gabino Iglesias wrote, “Young pulls readers into his world, showing them his vulnerability, hitting them with unflinching honesty about the state of race relations in this country, and keeping them glued to the pages with his wit and humor.”

Young is the co-founder and was editor-in-chief of the website “Very Smart Brothas.” He stepped down from the website earlier this month as his profile as an author continues to rise.

“I still can’t stand to listen to my own voice for more than 13 consecutive seconds, but I’m developing a show with a major podcast company and I have a staff of producers and engineers for it,” he wrote in his farewell column for the website. “A famous Hollywood person bought the rights to my book, and has signed another famous Hollywood person to portray (a much handsomer) me in an adaptation of it.”

Young’s work has appeared in Time, GQ, The Washington Post and The New York Times, where he is a regular contributor to the Opinion section.