Wellesley College continues its Distinguished Writers Series this Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 430pm at its Newhouse Center for the Humanities, with writers Mat Johnson and Tracy Smith. The bios:
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mat Johnson grew up in the Germantown and Mount Airy sections of the city. His first novel, Drop, was a B and N Discover Great New Writers selection. His second novel, Hunting in Harlem, won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. He has written for a variety of publications, including a stint as a columnist for Time Out-NY. His latest books are The Great Negro Plot, a history of race and hysteria in Colonial New York, and Incognegro, a graphic novel (illustrated by Walter Pleece) set in 1930s.
Tracy K. Smith received degrees in English and Creative Writing from Harvard College and Columbia University, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University from 1997-99. She is the author of three books of poetry: Life on Mars, Duende, and The Body’s Question. Smith is the recipient of the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a 2004 Rona Jaffe Writers Award, a 2005 Whiting Award and the 2006 James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets, and is the Literature protege in 2009-2011 cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. She teaches at Princeton University.
