Award winning author shares her creativity with students

On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Danielle Evans, assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared "Boys Are From Jupiter," from her book “Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self”, as the fifth speaker this year in the Dorothy and Wedel Nilson Visiting Writers Series hosted by the Southeast Missouri State University Press.

“Her process was revelatory for me,” said James Brubaker, assistant professor and director of the University Press. I try to find that spot between overexpansion and under-explanation and find what, for me, is the most open space.” Evans said.

As a professor, Evans hopes to not only inspire with her own work, but with her teaching, and help draw a bridge between understanding what direction in life to take. “There’s a lot of things in the world that say that what we do don’t matter, as writers and as people. There’s an importance in the ways that people recognize themselves, and we find our place in the world through writing.”

After the presentation, attendees expressed their enjoyment with smiles, applause and admiration.

“I think that there were several moments where I was really impressed with her ability to set up a character through dialogue and word choice that I can definitely borrow from,” Stephen Furlong, English teaching assistant said, ”And as a poet, I'm always drawn into language and wrote several words and phrases that will stick around with me for a while.”

Karma Alvey, English major, also felt Evans was an inspiring addition to the speaker series.

“I hope [Evans’ presentation] inspires people to write about things they might not be comfortable with, Alvey said. “Racism and prejudice were big tones in her work and those things aren't going to go away if we keep sweeping them under the rug and pretending they don't exist. I think her stories give you something to take out of the room and think about long after she was done telling them.”

According to WISC, Evans has received the PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Paterson Prize and the Hurston-Wright Award, and is a National Book Foundation "5 under 35" selection. Her writing has appeared in magazines including The Paris Review, A Public Space, and Callaloo and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South.

On Tiwtter, Evans’ recognized herself as a "lit professor, Twitter skeptic, frustrated political idealist and an armchair pop-culture anthropologist.” To learn more follow her at https://twitter.com/daniellevalore