America's First Professional African American Writer
— "I know what the caged bird feels, alas!"
Join Stanford English Professors Shelley Fisher Fishkin and Gavin Jones in an informal evening introduction to the life and work of Paul Laurence Dunbar. The son of two slaves, Dunbar was a remarkable poet who was read by whites and blacks alike at the turn of the century. He was a poet, novelist, dramatist and journalist whose work anticipated the great flowering of the Harlem Renaissance.
Browse Dunbar's poetry at:
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Read some of Dunbar's best short stories--such as "The Ingrate" and "One Man's Fortunes" at
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For a sense of the social and cultural contexts that inform Dunbar's work, and to read a collection of his nonfiction essays, his best novel, and selected stories and poems, see Sport of the Gods other Essential Writings of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited by Shelley Fisher Fishkin and David Bradley (New York: Random House/Modern Library, 2005).
This evening is designed to stand on its own as an introduction to Dunbar or to provide an orientation for those who wish to attend the national conference on Dunbar that will be held at Stanford March 9-11.