Writers Mat Johnson, Tracy Smith visit Wellesley Tuesday

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.