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Craft Lecture on "Writing Across Boundaries of Race, Culture, and Class: Considerations, Cautionary Tales, and Advice"

David Haynes, Zell Visiting Writers Series
Friday, January 28, 2022
10:00-11:00 AM
Off Campus Location
This event will be VIRTUAL ONLY. Login here (no pre-registration needed): https://tinyurl.com/ZellWriters

Zell Visiting Writers Series craft lectures are free and open to the public. Please contact kotziers@umich.edu with any questions or accommodation needs.


In this discussion-oriented craft lecture, we’ll discuss the pleasures and pitfalls in exploring the lives of characters whose identities differ significantly from our own. A primary text will be Allan Gurganus novella “Blessed Assurance.”

David Haynes is the author of seven novels for adults and five books for younger readers. He is an emeritus professor of English at Southern Methodist University, where he directed the creative writing program for ten years. Since 1996 he has taught regularly in MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and has also taught writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Hamline University, at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD, and at the Writers’ Garret in Dallas. He has received a fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and several of his short stories have been read and recorded for the National Public Radio series “Selected Shorts.” His seventh and most recently novel is A Star in the Face of the Sky. He is also the author of a series for children called “The West Seventh Wildcats.” His upcoming book is a collection, Martha's Daughter: A Novella and Stories.

David spent fifteen years as a K-12 teacher in urban schools, mostly teaching middle grades in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He worked on numerous school reform efforts, including developing the influential Saturn School of Tomorrow, where he served as Associate Teacher for Humanities. He has been involved in the work of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, coordinating efforts of the nation's finest educators to develop standards in the fields of social studies, vocational education, early childhood education and for teachers of students whose first language is not English.

David Haynes co-founded and serves as the Board Chair for Kimbilio, a community of writers and scholars committed to developing, empowering and sustaining fiction writers from the African diaspora and their stories.


For any questions about the event or to share accommodation needs, please email kotziers@umich.edu-- we are eager to help ensure that this event is inclusive to you. The building, event space, and restrooms are wheelchair accessible. A lactation room (Angell Hall #5209), reflection room (Haven Hall #1506), and gender-inclusive restroom (Angell Hall 5th floor) are available on site. ASL interpreters and CART services at in-person events are available upon request; please email kotziers@umich.edu at least two weeks prior to the event, whenever possible, to allow time to arrange services.

U-M employees with a U-M parking permit may use the Church Street Parking Structure (525 Church St., Ann Arbor) or the Thompson Parking Structure (500 Thompson St., Ann Arbor). There is limited metered street parking on State Street and South University Avenue. The Forest Avenue Public Parking Structure (650 South Forest Ave., Ann Arbor) is five blocks away, and the parking rate is $1.20 per hour. All of these options include parking spots for individuals with disabilities.
Building: Off Campus Location
Location: Virtual
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Literature
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Zell Visiting Writers Series, Residential College, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, English Language & Literature - MFA Program in Creative Writing, University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers' Program, Department of English Language and Literature