Abdulhamit Arvas, Boys Abducted, Wins Two Additional Awards

In March, we announced that Hamit's book won the 2026 Phyllis Goodhard Gordan Book Prize for the Best Book In Renaissance Studies for his book, Boys Abducted: The Homoerotics of Empire and Race in Early Modernity.

Read more about the Gordan Book Prize 

The book has also been named the winner of the 2026 Shakespeare Association of America First Book Award, which is annually awarded “to a monograph with a significant Shakespeare component published as the first book-length publication.” Boys Abducted builds on Dr. Arvas’ broader work and research concerning early modern literature and culture, along with comparative histories of sexuality and race. 

In addition, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has named Dr. Arvas a 2026 ACLS Fellow. ACLS Fellowships provide up to $60,000 to support scholars for six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. Awardees who are independent scholars, are adjunct faculty, or have teaching-intensive roles receive an additional stipend between $3,000 and $6,000. The awardees were selected from a pool of over 2,000 applicants through a multi-stage peer review process and represent a broad range of institutions, fields, and career stages. More than half of the 2026 ACLS Fellows are early-career scholars and scholars who do not hold tenure-track faculty appointments.

At Penn, Dr. Arvas holds affiliations in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies; comparative literature & literary theory; the Middle East Center; theater arts; and global medieval and Renaissance studies.