Kwame Dawes visits Grand Valley

An internationally renowned author, whose creative work urges readers to examine the world's social constructs, is the next visiting writer at Grand Valley.

Award-winning poet, novelist, critic and playwright Kwame Dawes will read from his newest novel, “She's Gone,” on Thursday, November 1, at 4 p.m., in Cook-DeWitt Center, Allendale Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Dawes was born in Ghana in 1962, and grew up in Jamaica, where he attended college. Since 1992, the author of more than a dozen books of poetry has been teaching at the University of South Carolina, where he was formerly the director of the MFA program and is founder and director of the USC Poetry Initiative.

Dawes has performed and read from his work in Europe, the Caribbean and North America for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. His research into folk life in the South, the Caribbean and Africa, has provided fodder for his poetry and storytelling.

Among Dawes awards are an Individual Artist Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission and a Pushcart Prize for his poetry. His book “Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius,” remains the most authoritative study of the musician's lyrics.

This event is sponsored by Grand Valley's Department of English, the African/African-American Studies Program, the Department of Communications, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of Planning and Equity.

For more information, contact Corinna McLeod in Grand Valley's Department of English, at x18576.