By Jim Ducibella
William & Mary College
January 27, 2010
Acclaimed poet, professor, mentor and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller will make three appearances at the College of William and Mary to lecture and read from Tuesday Feb. 2 through Thursday, Feb 4.
All of his appearances are free and open to the public. Miller is here as part of the Patrick Hayes Writers Festival.
“We
are bringing the literary artist, our distinguished university
archivist, the college community and the general public together in our
library and the classroom,” said Joanne Braxton, Cummings Professor of English,
at whose invitation Miller is appearing. “We are, in fact, opening the
university classroom to the public. This is one example of the many ways
in which William & Mary demonstrates continued excellence in
defining what it means to be a public university in the 21st Century.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, 12:30 p.m., Miller will discuss “My Life as a Literary Activist” in room 305 of Washington Hall.
On
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., Miller will read from his 2009 memoir “The
Fifth Inning” and other works at the Botetourt Gallery on the ground
floor of Swem Library.
At 12:30
p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4, in room 305 of Washington Hall, Miller will
be joined by Beatriz B. Hardy, Swem Library’s Marian and Alan McLeod
Director of Special Collections Research Center, to discuss Miller’s
role as someone who documents literary movements and what archives do
with writers’ papers.
At the same time, Miller and Dr. Hardy will
discuss the College’s new exhibit of the works of the late poet Reetika
Vazirani. Miller saved his correspondence with Vazirani, 2002
writer-in-residence at the College and winner of the 2003 Anisfield-Wolf
Book Award, and donated them to Swem Library following her death in
July, 2003.
The exhibit, positioned at the front entrance to the library, will be available for viewing for three weeks.
Miller
was instrumental in getting Vazirani’s final collection of poems,
entitled “Radha Says,” published late last year. Among its editors was
Ravi Shankar.
Miller has been the director of the African
American Resource Center at Howard University since 1974. In addition,
he was formerly the chair of the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C.,
and a faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington
College in Vermont.
Ethelbert MillerThe author of 11 books, Miller was once hailed by the Washington Post as “arguably the most influential person in Washington’s vast and vibrant African American arts community.”
Mr. Miller was awarded the Mayor’s Art Award for literature in 1982. He received the Public Humanities Award from the D.C. Humanities Council in 1988. In 1993, the literary community of Washington awarded him the Columbia Merit Award.
His book, “In Search of Color Everywhere,” was awarded the 1994 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Mr. Miller received the 1995 O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize.
In 1997, he was presented with the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award by the African American Literature and Culture Society. His book, “Fathering Words,” was selected by D.C. WE READ in 2003 for the one-book, one-city program sponsored by the D.C. Public Libraries.
