Award-Winning Writer for the Atlantic to Speak at Ohio Wesleyan
Ta-Nehisi Coates Considered ‘the Young James Joyce of the Hip-Hop Generation’
Ta-Nehisi Coates
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ta-Nehisi Coates, national correspondent and award-winning blogger for The Atlantic, will discuss the craft of writing at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
Coates, whom author Walter Mosley has called “the young James Joyce of the hip-hop generation,” is widely regarded as one of the premier writers on race issues in the United States. “The Case for Reparations,” his June 2014 cover essay for The Atlantic, won him the George Polk Award for Commentary.
Coates also is the author of “The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood,” a memoir about growing up as a black man in Baltimore. Booklist has called it “a beautifully written, loving portrait of a strong father bringing his sons to manhood.”
His talk is part of the David Osborne Lecture Series sponsored by the Department of English. The series is an opportunity for first-year writing students and others to learn more about the challenge and excitement of being a writer, said Nancy Comorau, Ph.D., assistant professor of English.
The department chose Coates for this year’s lecture because he is an accomplished writer who often addresses writing itself as a way of thinking and learning, Comorau said. Coates also will meet with English classes and participate in a student roundtable while at Ohio Wesleyan.
“I believe the ways that he speaks about thinking and learning – in both successes and setbacks – and the varied topics of his blog demonstrate exactly what we try to do in the liberal arts,” Comorau said.
Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of English and Osborne Lecture Series at https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-english/.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.