David Wright (writer)

David Wright
Wright at the 2016 Texas Book Festival.
Occupation	Professor, writer
Language	English
Education	Carleton College (BA) University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts (MFA)

David Wright is an American writer.

Early life and education

Wright grew up in Borger, Texas. His mother is a white Jewish woman who survived the Nazi occupation of Paris. Her parents were affluent, assimilated French Jews. His mother was a member of the French Communist Party; she immigrated to the US in the 1950s as the GI bride of an African-American soldier. ^[1] He holds a BA from Carleton College and an MFA from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also studied at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Before he started teaching creative writing, he was a player/coach on various American football teams in Paris and London. He teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but lives in Texas. ^[2]

He has also published under the name "David Wright Faladé," in honor of his biological father, Max Faladé, from Porto-Novo in Benin, the grandson of Béhanzin, the last King of Dahomey. ^[3]

Works

Books

• The New Internationals, Grove Press, January, 2025. ^[4]

• Black Cloud Rising, Atlantic Monthly Press, February 2022. ^{[5] [6]}
• Bouchard, Luc; Wright, David (April 12, 2016). Away Running. Victoria, British Columbia: Orca Books. ISBN   978-1-4598-1048-8. OCLC   913176274. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}
• Wright, David; Zoby, David (2002). Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-515484-3. OCLC   49284293. ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

Short stories

• "The Sand Banks, 1861" (2020) ^[15]

Documentary film

• Rescue Men: The Story of the Pea Island Lifesavers (2010). ^[16]

Television journalism

• "The Pea Island Story", co-written and co-produced with Stephanie Frederic and David Zoby. Aired on BET Tonight , February 1999.^{[ citation needed ]}

Awards

• 2017: International Board on Books for Young People, grades 9–12, Away Running ^[17]
• 2011: Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. ^[18]
• 2009: North Carolina Humanities Council, Large Grant, for production of Rescue Men: The Story of the Pea Island Lifesavers.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2005: Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, University of Texas and the Texas Institute of Letters.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 2004: Tennessee Williams Scholar, Sewanee Writers’ Conference.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1999: National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Institute for College and University Faculty Fellow, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, Harvard University, "The Civil Rights Movement: History and Consequences".^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1997–1998: Chancellor’s Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship, Afro-American Studies and Research Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1994: Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award, the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, Fairfax, VA.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1993: Paul Cuffe Memorial Fellowship, Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies, Mystic, Connecticut.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "The Truth About My Father". The New Yorker . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
2. "x.com".
3. Leyshon, Cressida. "David Wright Faladé on Complicated Backstories". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
4. McAlpin (January 24, 2025). "'The New Internationals' Review: Parisian Love Triangle". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
5. Garner (February 14, 2022). "A Rousing Novel Follows a Brigade of Black Soldiers in the Civil War". The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
6. "'Black Cloud Rising' novelizes the leader of an all-Black brigade in the Civil War". National Public Radio. March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
7. Dror, Stephanie (March 21, 2016). "Away Running". Quill & Quire . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
8. Huenemann, Karyn (February 1, 2016). "Away Running (review)". Resource Links (Society for Canadian Educational Resources). 21 (3): 18–19.
9. Krieger-Munday, Courtney (April 2016). "Wright, David, and Luc Bouchard. Away Running". Voice of Youth Advocates. 9 (1): 69.
10. Bouchard, Luc (October 1, 2016). "Away Running". School Library Journal . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
11. Yardley, Jonathan (July 29, 2001). "Review of Fire on the Beach". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 31, 2020.
12. Steelman, Ben (July 22, 2001). "Review of Fire on the Beach". Wilmington Star News . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
13. Gill, Leonard (October 9, 2001). "Operation Rescue". Memphis Flyer . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
14. Stover, Douglas (2008). "Pea Island Life-Saving Station" (PDF). NPS History.
15. Wright Faladé, David (August 24, 2020). "The Sand Banks, 1861". The New Yorker. New York: Condé Nast.
16. Kozak, Catherine (January 10, 2010). "Film to shine spotlight on black surfmen of Pea Island". The Virginian-Pilot . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
17. Johnson, Holly (January 31, 2017). "Outstanding International Books: Presenting the 2017 USBBY Selections". School Library Journal . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
18. "David Wright". Fulbright Scholar Program. Retrieved September 1, 2020.

External links

• Official website