Wil Haygood, one of the nation’s leading biographers of African-American life, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Nov. 9 as a part of “The SmartSet Series: Where Great Writers Read,” sponsored by The Center for Humanities in Arts & Sciences. The reading will take place in Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 204.
In addition, Haygood will lead a seminar on the art of biography at 4 p.m. Nov. 10 in McMillan Café, McMillan Hall, Room 115.
Both events are free and open to the public, with receptions to follow. Copies of Haygood’s books will be available for purchase.
Haygood is the author of four books: Two on the River (1986), King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1993); The Haygoods of Columbus: A Family Memoir (1997); and In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. (2003).
Now a staff writer for the style section of The Washington Post, he previously served for 17 years as a feature writer and national and foreign correspondent for The Boston Globe.
Publisher’s Weekly called In Black and White a “moving, exhaustive life of one of America’s greatest entertainers,” adding that Haygood “casts Sammy Davis Jr. as a man shifting between identities, between the worlds of black people and white people.
” … Haygood’s reporting and powerful prose reveal Davis’s career against the backdrop of the swinging ’60s and the Rat Pack (with Sinatra as a mighty presence in Davis’ life) and Davis as a tragically complex man.”
Haygood’s numerous honors include the Sunday Magazine Editors Award, the New England Associated Press Award, the National Headliners Award and the National Association of Black Journalists Award, the latter of which he received three times.
In addition, The Haygoods of Columbus received the 1997 Great Lakes Book Award and the 1997 Ohio Library Award, while King of Cats was named a New York Times Notable Book. Other honors include the James Thurber Literary Fellowship, an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship and a Yaddo Fellowship.
Haygood has served as writer-in-residence at Ohio State University and as visiting writer at Colorado College.
For more information, call 935-5576.