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Books by Jerry W. Ward Jr.
Trouble the Water
(1997) /
Black Southern Voices (1992)
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Books by Richard Wright
Richard Wright: Early Works /
Black Boy /
Native Son /
Uncle Tom's Children /
12 Million Black Voices /
Richard Wright: Later Works
The Outsider /
Pagan
Spain /
Black Power /
White Man Listen! /
The Color Curtain /
Savage Holiday /
The Long Dream
Eight Men: Short Stories /
Haiku /
American Hunger /
Lawd Today!
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In preparation for
the 2008 International Richard Wright Centennial, Dr.
Jerry W. Ward, Jr., a Wright expert and professor of
English and African World Studies at Dillard University
in New Orleans, will give presentations on Wright in
East St. Louis and Edwardsville (Illinois) on June 26
and 28. Both events are free.
On Tuesday, June
26, at 6:00 p.m., the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club
will host Ward in a workshop on Wright in the Library
(Building B) of SIUE’s East St. Louis Higher Education
Center, 601 J.R. Thompson Dr.
On Thursday, June
28, at 1:00 p.m., Ward will present a lecture and
workshop on Wright (and the “creative experience”) in
Peck Hall 2304 on SIU’s Edwardsville Campus. An East St.
Louis drum troupe and members of the Writers Club’s
Soular Systems Ensemble will also perform.
Wright (1908-1960),
a best-selling author whose novel “Native Son” (1940)
was the first book by an African American to become a
Book of the Month Club selection, wrote 16 works of
fiction, nonfiction (including “Black Boy,” 1955), and
poetry. He was born in Natchez, MS, and wound his way,
as a child, up through Memphis to Chicago where he wrote
“Native Son” (which also became a movie).
A seminal figure in
the development of modern African American literature
and activism, Wright influenced generations of
writers--including James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Toni
Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Paule Marshall, Ishmael Reed,
and Alice Walker--and inspired the Civil Rights and
Black Arts/Black Power movements of the 1950’s and 60’s.
In addition to his
Richard Wright Centennial projects, Ward is writing new
articles for “Reading Race Reading America: Social and
Literary Essays” and new poems for JAZZ SOUTH. The
editor of “Trouble the Water: 250 Years of African
American Poetry,” he is co-editing the “Cambridge
History of African American Literature” with Maryemma
Graham of the University of Kansas. He is also a
co-founder of The Richard Wright Circle and Newsletter.
(In July, the EBR
Writers Club and “Drumvoices Revue” will issue a “Call
for Kwansabas for Richard Wright.” Selected kwansabas
(49-word, 7-line poems) will appear in the 2008 issue of
“DR,” which is co-published by the Club and SIUE.)
Sponsors of Ward’s
visit include SIUE’s College of Arts and Sciences,
Department of English, “Drumvoices Revue,” Black
Studies, and the EBR Writers Club. For more information
call SIUE/EBRWC at 618 650-3991. Email:
eredmon@siue.edu.
posted 23 June 2007 |
