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David Wright [1]

Listed as: 
Fiction Writer
wright.jpg
Public address: 
Urbana, IL
Illinois US
Email: 
wright3@uiuc.edu
Bio: 

David Wright’s first novel, Home Field, Paris (Penguin, forthcoming 2011), tells the story of the 2005 Paris riots through the eyes of two high school seniors, one an African American from Texas, the other a white Quebecker. Each one has travelled to Paris to play in the French American football league and gets swept up in the civil unrest. Wright’s other book, the nonfiction narrative Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers (Scribner 2001; Oxford University Press paper 2002), was a New Yorker Notable Selection and one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s “Best Books of 2001.” His television documentary, “Rescue Men: The Story of the Pea Island Lifesavers” (DreamQuest Productions), is currently in-production, with an expected fall 2009 completion date.

Wright has published other work in The Village Voice, Callaloo, The Kenyon Review, African American Review, New York Newsday, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere, and been anthologized in Gumbo: : A Celebration of African American Writing (Doubleday 2002) and Stories from the Blue Moon Café (MacAdam/Cage 2003).

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
In which languages are you fluent?: 
French
Born in: 
Orleans
France
Raised in: 
Borger, TX
Texas
Website: 
https://www.fireonbeach.com [2]
Prizes won: 

Wright's work has been recognized with honors, including awards from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation and the National Association of Black Journalists and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the North Carolina Humanities Council. He teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois.

Identifies as: 
African American
Prefers to work with: 
Any

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/david_wright#comment-0

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/david_wright [2] https://www.fireonbeach.com