LOS ALAMOS COUNTY NEWS

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, Santa Fe’s 6th poet laureate, opens a window into history by portraying the preeminent Black novelist Richard Wright in a live presentation at Mesa Public Library.

Richard Wright (1908-1960) pioneered an influential school of protest literature and became the first Black writer to pen a bestseller that overtly criticized racism and white supremacy. Born into dire poverty and oppression in segregated Mississippi, his journey to international success was so unlikely that, upon meeting him, the most famous sociologist of the 1940s asked, “How in the hell did YOU happen?” Following his success, Wright grew disillusioned with the United States and, in 1947, relocated to France. Before his death in 1960, he coined the phrase “Black Power” in support of African anti-colonial revolutions.

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington recreates Wright’s final days, looking back on his career, while delivering a lecture to an American audience in Paris. Join us for Wellington’s performance of Richard Wright, and bring your questions and discussion topics for this reanimated author, thinker, and poet.