Deven Desai Honored With Fitzpatrick Book Award

The annual presentation of the Denis Fitzpatrick Book Award, is given in memory of Fitzpatrick, the director of English in the Belmont Schools for 15 years and assistant superintendent for the last two years of his time at Belmont. 

In recognition of his love of language and literature, the department is pleased to honor senior Deven Desai with the award and a copy of one of Fitzpatrick’s favorite books, Stephen King’s memoir of the craft, "On Writing."   

According to his teacher, Mark Reynolds; "Personable and punctual, Deven is an excellent student who, in the words of Marge Piercy, 'jumps into work head first'and does 'what has to be done, again and again.' He is interested in ideas and wonders not only how they apply to the texts we’re discussing in class, but also how they matter in his own life. Deven drew on these qualities throughout the thesis process, allowing him to meet – or sometimes outpace – all of the deadlines and refine his exploration of identity in the works of Hunter S. Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk."