The Wilkes University English Department will open the Allan Hamilton Dickson Fund Spring Writers Series with a reading by Zakes Mda at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the Kirby Hall Salon.
Mda is a South African and American-African Appalachian writer, painter and music composer. He has published 24 books, including 11 novels, plus collections of plays, poetry and a monograph on the theory and practice of theater-for-development. His award-winning writings have been translated into 22 languages. His paintings have been exhibited in South Africa, Lesotho and the U.S. and are in collections in those countries, as well as Spain and Sweden.
Mda holds an MFA in theater and an MA in telecommunications from Ohio University and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. He commutes between the U.S., where he teaches creative writing at John Hopkins University and is professor emeritus at Ohio University, and South Africa, where he is a beekeeper in the Eastern Cape, running a project he established in 2000 with rural women, and a director of NeoZane, an animation film production company.
Throughout the spring 2023 semester, guest artists will visit campus to read from their work and discuss the creative process. The next reading, featuring poet Ann E. Wallace, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15. The final reading, featuring digital humanities and Africana studies scholar Amy Earhart, is scheduled for April 12. All events are free and open to the public. For more information on the Allan Hamilton Dickson Spring Writers series, please visit wilkes.edu/dickson.
