Writer and professor James Alan McPherson was the first Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1978, and he was in the inaugural class of artists to win a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, yet he is not well known. Bowdoin professor Anthony Walton wrote the introduction and selected the essays for a new book, On Becoming an American Writer. It showcases McPherson’s work as a writer and thinker about race, identity, and what it means to be an American.
Panelists:
Anthony Walton, poet; professor of English and writer-in-residence, Bowdoin College; author of works such as a chapbook of poems, Cricket Weather, and a non-fiction work, Mississippi: An American Journey
VIP Caller:
Josh Bodwell, editorial director, Godine publisher