Poet, Playwright, Storyteller Kwame Dawes to Present Clark Distinguished Lecture & Poetry Reading at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Kwame Senu Neville Dawes, associate professor of English at the University of South Carolina, will discuss “Natural Mysticism: Towards a New Reggae Aesthetic” as the fall 2001 John Henrik Clarke Distinguished Lecturer on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 11 a.m. in 30 ten Hoor Hall at The University of Alabama.

Dawes will also read from his poetry on that same date at 7:30 p.m. in Morgan Auditorium as part of this year’s Bankhead Visiting Writers Series.

The John Henrik Clarke Distinguished Lecture Series is sponsored by the UA African American Studies program. The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, the UA creative writing program, the English department and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dawes has published six collections of poetry including “Progeny of Air,” which won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, “Resisting the Anomie,” “Prophets,” and “Shook Foil,” which is a collection of reggae-inspired poems. His most recent book of poems, “Midland,” won the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize from Ohio University Press. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, “A Place to Hide,” a novel set in Jamaica, “Bivouac,” and he is the editor of an anthology of reggae poetry, “Wheel and Come Again.” Several of his plays, such as “Friends and Almost Lovers” and “Song of an Injured Stone,” have had successful runs in a number of countries including Jamaica and Canada.

His critical work on Caribbean Literature and African Literature has been featured in a number of major literary journals including Poetry Review, The Atlanta Review and The Washington Post. He has been made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Iowa’s writing program and an Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick. Dawes has received an Individual Artist Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. He lives in Columbia, S.C.

For more information, contact the UA creative writing program at 205/348-0766 or the African American Studies program at 205/348-2532.