Christopher Paul Curtis: Making of an Author 101

Join us for an evening with the award-winning author, Christopher Paul Curtis. In his talk he will trace his path to becoming a writer of historical fiction for young people and the importance certain people played along the way. Born in Flint Michigan in 1953, Curtis was working on an auto assembly line when he began writing. His novels center on African American families and tackle tough issues with humor and honesty. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 (Delacorte Press, 1995) and Bud, Not Buddy (Delacorte, 1999), his first two published novels, both received the most prestigious awards in all of children’s literature, the Newberry Honor and the Coretta Scott King Honor. This year Curtis received the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award which recognizes outstanding African American authors, illustrators, and practitioners for lasting and significant contributions to youth or young adult literature.

The David and Eunice Sutherland Burgess Lecture was endowed by the Burgesses to support authors, storytellers, and scholars to visit campus and talk about the enduring importance of storytelling. 

A reception in the Clarke will follow this event.