|
The Kelly Writers House Fellows Program |
| | James Alan McPherson reading - A digital recording of the April 19, 2004 event where McPherson read from his work. See the Writers House calendar entry for more about this event. James Alan McPherson interview/conversation - A recording of the April 20, 2004 audiocast of the interview and conversation with James Alan McPherson, moderated by Al Filreis, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House. See the Writers House calendar entry for more about this event.
|
|
James Alan McPherson is among the most revered authors living and writing
in the United States. He spent his early career writing short stories and
essays, almost without exception, for The Atlantic. At the age of
35, McPherson received a Pulitzer Prize for his collection of stories,
Elbow Room (1978); he was the first African-American writer to
receive the award. He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship
(1973) and the MacArthur Foundation Award (the so-called "Genius Award";
1981) and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
1995. He is perhaps most often quoted for propounding this philosophy of
American citizenship: "I believe that if one can experience diversity,
touch a variety of its people, laugh at its craziness, distill wisdom from
its tragedies, and attempt to synthesize all this inside oneself without
going crazy, one will have earned the right to call oneself 'citizen of
the United States.'"
Writers House Fellows Program | Writers House Webcast Archive
|