Jerald Walker
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}{{Short description|American writer and academic}}
Jerald Walker is an American writer and professor of creative writing and African American literature at Emerson College.{{cite web |url=https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/jerald-walker |website=Emerson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }}
Early life and education
Walker was born in Chicago and, with his five siblings, was raised in the white supremacist doomsday cult the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) by his parents, who were both blind. At 16, after leaving the WCG, Walker dropped out of school and started becoming a heavy user of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.{{cite web|title=I was a black child raised in a white supremacist cult. When doomsday didn’t come, I had to learn how to live|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/sep/10/i-was-black-child-raised-in-white-supremacist-cult-doomsday-didnt-come-learn-how-to-live|work=The Guardian|last=Rose|first=Steve|date=10 September 2024|accessdate=10 September 2024}}
Walker later received his MFA in Fiction Writing from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, as well as a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Iowa.{{cite web |title=Overcoming Life on the Streets to Teach Literature |url=https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/african-american/article/15089564/overcoming-life-on-the-streets-to-teach-literature |website=Diverse |language=en-us |date=19 April 2010}}
Career
Walker's essays have appeared in magazines such as The Harvard Review, The Oxford American, Creative Nonfiction, The New England Review, and Mother Jones, and they have been widely anthologized, including five times in The Best American Essays (2020, 2014,{{cite web |title=Walker's work in Best American Essays 2014 |url=https://today.emerson.edu/2014/11/04/walkers-work-in-best-american-essays-2014/ |website=Emerson Today |date=4 November 2014}} 2011, 2009){{cite web |title=Best American Essays 2020 |url=https://www.nereview.com/2020/04/20/best-american-essays-2020/ |website=New England Review |date=20 April 2020}} and twice in The Best African American Essays (2009, 2010). He has written book reviews for The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His first book, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Redemption, was awarded the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for Nonfiction. How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, his third book, was a Finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.{{cite web |last1=Sutherl |first1=Amy |title=Reading for humor, company during insomnia |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/19/arts/reading-humor-company-during-insomnia/ |website=BostonGlobe.com}} He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2022){{cite web |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/jerald-walker/ |website=Guggenheim Foundation |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }} a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (2018),{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/jerald-walker |website=National Endowement for the Arts|title=Jerald Walker }} the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction (2021),{{cite web |url=https://www.massbook.org/mass-book-awards |website=Mass Book |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Mass Book Awards }} a Pushcart Prize (2021),{{cite web |url=https://today.emerson.edu/2021/06/07/pushcart-prizes-go-wlps-asim-hoffman-walker/ |website=Emerson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Pushcart Prizes Go to WLP's Asim, Hoffman, Walker |date=7 June 2021 }} a James A. Michener Fellowship.{{cite web |url=https://www.librarything.com/author/walkerjerald |website=Library Thing |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }} and a Massachusetts Cultural Council of the Arts Fellowship.{{cite web |url=https://massculturalcouncil.org/documents/Board_Materials_Supplemental_Grants_Committee_5_3_22.pdf|title=ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS - MAY 2022 |website=Mass Book |access-date=3 August 2022}}
Prior to joining Emerson College, Walker was an associate professor of American Literature at Bridgewater State University.{{cite web |url=https://news.fordham.edu/university-news/in-praise-of-the-essay/ |website=Fordham University |access-date=3 August 2022|title=In Praise of the Essay |date=23 April 2010 }} In addition to teaching at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA,{{cite web |url=https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/jerald-walker |website=Emerson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }} he has been the Ida Bean Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Nonfiction Program at the University of Iowa{{cite web |url=https://english.uiowa.edu/graduate-program/mfa-nonfiction-writing/our-faculty |website=The University of Iowa |access-date=3 August 2022|title=NWP Faculty | English | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | the University of Iowa }} and the Visiting Hurst Professor at Washington University.{{cite web |url=https://english.wustl.edu/events/reading-visiting-hurst-professor-jerald-walker |website=Washington University |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Reading by Visiting Hurst Professor Jerald Walker |date=21 October 2021 }}
Works
=Books=
- 2024: Magically Black and Other Essays, Amistad (HarperCollins) {{ISBN|0063161079}}
- 2020: How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, Mad Creek, {{ISBN|081425599X}}{{cite web |last1=Szalai |first1=Jennifer |title='How to Make a Slave' Offers Restless, Brilliant Thoughts About Race |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/books/review-how-to-make-a-slave-jerald-walker.html |website=The New York Times |date=4 November 2020}}{{cite web |title=HOW TO MAKE A SLAVE AND OTHER ESSAYS |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jerald-walker/how-make-slave-and-other-essays/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=9 October 2022 |language=en}}
- 2017: The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult, Beacon Press, {{ISBN|0807027502}}{{cite web |title=THE WORLD IN FLAMES |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jerald-walker/the-world-in-flames/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}
- 2010: Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Redemption, {{ISBN|0807027502}}{{cite web |title=STREET SHADOWS |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jerald-walker/street-shadows/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=9 October 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption by Jerald Walker |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780553807554 |website=Publishers Weekly}}
=Anthologies=
- "Breathe". The Best American Essays 2020. Guest Editor, Andre Anciman.
- "How to Make a Slave". The Best American Essays 2014. Guest Editor, John Jeremiah Sullivan.
- "Unprepared". The Best American Essays 2011. Guest Editor, Edwidge Danticat.
- "The Mechanics of Being". The Best American Essays 2009. Guest Editor, Mary Oliver.
- "Dragon Slayers". The Best American Essays 2007. Guest Editor, David Foster Wallace.
- "Before Grief". The Best African American Essays 2010. Guest Editor, Randall Kennedy.
- "We Are Americans". The Best African American Essays 2009. Guest Editor, Debra Dickerson.
- "The Kaleshion". The Pushcart Prizes XLV. Editor, Bill Henderson.
Awards and honors
- 2022: Guggenheim Fellowship{{cite web |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/jerald-walker/ |website=Guggenheim Foundation |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }}
- 2021: Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction{{cite web |url=https://www.massbook.org/mass-book-awards |website=Mass Book |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Mass Book Awards }}
- 2021: Pushcart Prize{{cite web |url=https://today.emerson.edu/2021/06/07/pushcart-prizes-go-wlps-asim-hoffman-walker/ |website=Emerson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Pushcart Prizes Go to WLP's Asim, Hoffman, Walker |date=7 June 2021 }}
- 2021: Best Boston Author by Boston Magazine{{cite web |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/best-of-boston-archive/2021/jerald-walker/ |website=Boston Magazine |access-date=3 August 2022|title=BEST OF BOSTON|date=6 July 2021 }}
- 2021: National Book Award for Nonfiction Finalist{{cite web |last1=Clossey |first1=Erin |title=Walker Essay Collection Named Finalist for National Book Award |url=https://today.emerson.edu/2020/10/06/walker-essay-collection-named-finalist-for-national-book-award/ |website=Emerson Today |date=6 October 2020}}
- 2018: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/jerald-walker |website=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }}
- 2011: PEN New England Award for Nonfiction{{cite web |url=https://today.emerson.edu/2011/03/28/walker-gets-pen-award/ |website=Emerson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Walker gets PEN Award |date=28 March 2011 }}
- 1995: James A. Michener Fellowship{{cite web |url=https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/jerald-walker |website=Emeson College |access-date=3 August 2022|title=Jerald Walker }}