MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship for Youth Communication alumna Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat, acclaimed author and former teen writer for Youth Communication, was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship in September 2009 by the MacArthur Foundation.
Danticat is the second person associated with Youth Communication to win a MacArthur Fellowship: Executive Director and founder Keith Hefner won the prize 20 years ago.
Danticat began her writing career at Youth Communication in 1984 as a 14-year-old writer for New Youth Connections. In 1987 she wrote a powerful account of her immigration experience from Haiti, “A New World Full of Strangers.”
Danticat also wrote an introduction to Starting With I, an anthology of personal essays by teens at Youth Communication. She wrote: “When I was done with the [immigration] piece, I felt that my story was unfinished, so I wrote a short story, which later became a book, my first novel: Breath, Eyes, Memory…. Writing for New Youth Connections has given me a voice. My silence was destroyed completely, indefinitely.”
Breath, Eyes, Memory became an Oprah’s Book Club selection and New York Times bestseller. Two of Danticat’s later books were finalists for the National Book Award.
Starting With I is available from the Youth Communication store, along with dozens more anthologies of the best teen writing from the program on topics ranging from dealing with difficult emotions to how to succeed in college. Danticat’s immigration story will appear in American Me, a new Youth Communication anthology scheduled for publication in January 2010.
Danticat also has written several young adult novels, and sees a direct connection between writing for young people and her experience at Youth Communication.
“When I was writing Behind the Mountains [a young adult novel], I couldn’t stop thinking about New Youth Connections. I almost saw the main character in that book writing for the magazine in the future.”
Youth Communication was founded in 1980 to train teens in writing and other skills needed for success in school, on the job, and in civic life. For more information about our programs and stories, see www.youthcomm.org
P.S. Edwidge and five other Youth Communication alumni who have gone on to become professional authors talk about the connection between writing at Youth Communication and writing as adults in “Lighting the Lamp for Young Readers and Writers” an article from the April 2009 issue of VOYA, a trade magazine for young adult librarians. |
