Award- winning author Fred D’Aguiar speaks at CU
October 25th, 2012 | Published in News
It was just before 3:30 p.m. on October 6th, when students shuffled into what speaker and award-winning author Fred D’Aguiar described as “the longest room [he’d] ever spoken in.” D’Aguiar is a British-Guyanese poet, novelist, and playwright, who is currently a Professor of English at Virginia Tech.
“He’s the author of one of my favorite novels, and it ends up being my students’ favorite novel every time I teach it,” said Bridget Keegan, director of the World Literature program, of D’Aguiar’s acclaimed novel, Feeding the Ghosts, which established him as “one of the foremost British poets of the generation.”
Keegan had taught the novel for ten years in her British Literature class, and when the World Literature program was looking for their annual speaker, she decided to see if D’Aguiar would be available. D’Aguiar’s world emphasis worked perfectly with the focus of the World Literature program. “We try to expose students to the enthusiasm of World Literature, and there’s nothing better than to hear from a real live author,” said Keegan. “It helps make a personal connection.”
This year, D’Aguiar’s novel will act as a supplement to World Literature II classes, since the course has a contemporary focus. Many students taking this course were in attendance, as well as other students from English and Creative Writing classes. The reading was free to the public, so there were also others in attendance.
After Keegan’s introduction, D’Aguiar emerged into the aisle to begin his lecture. “I hear this is an administrative building,” he said. “There’s nobody in authority here today, so can we try something?” he asked the audience. He then led the audience members in a march while they remained stated, leading to around 10 seconds of what quite possibly sounded like an earthquake to the floor below.
D’Aguiar’s version of an icebreaker left the room in laughter, and instantly made him more personable. He then started reading poems from his book, Continental Shelf, beginning with poems from his childhood in the Caribbean and ending with his experiences during the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.
After the reading, D’Aguiar took questions from the audience and stayed to sign books and chat with the remaining students. D’Aguiar said he started writing in high school where he had a very encouraging English teacher who would teach contemporary poets in class, and his move from Guyana to London was the turning point in terms of writing. Initially D’Aguiar worked as a psychiatric nurse, but switched professions after experiencing what he described as “Groundhog Day, but with trauma.” This allowed him to focus more on writing.
“I want to move people to feel what I feel,” he replied when asked what he hoped to achieve from his lectures. “Writing is a way the world provides a luxury of stillness… and allows you to slow down,” he added. D’Aguiar prefers to write alone in a quiet place, facing a blank wall. His advice to aspiring writers is to write a little bit everyday because it develops the persona of being a writer, which is half the trick.
D’Aguiar is currently working on a novel about 1978 Jonestown, where 1000 Americans went to Guyana and committed suicide. This endeavor exemplifies what Keegan described as “the fearlessness with which he is willing to confront these issues” and will no doubt prove to be another brilliantly crafted piece of literature.
By: Manaswita Tappata