Professor Caryl Phillips, English Professor at Yale University, returned to Duke from February 16 to 24 for his second year as the Blackburn Writer-in-Residence as part of the English Department's Blackburn Reading Series. Every year the department invites a major, active fiction writer for a reading and a series of workshops that allow its creative writing students to interact with a noted, contemporary author.
When asked for remarks about returning as the Blackburn Writer-in-Residence this year, especially during a pandemic, Caryl Phillips said,
"I was concerned how a 'residency' might work if it was virtual - it seemed a contradiction in terms - but it actually turned out to be a really stimulating and enjoyable interaction with faculty and students. Partly, I think, because I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people last year, so I already felt 'involved' with the English Department at Duke. In other words, I wasn't a stranger. But I think it was also a successful residency because everyone worked so hard to make me feel a part of the community. The department's staff, students, and faculty couldn't have been more welcoming."
Phillips' visit this semester included virtual visits to several English classes, an Essay Writing Workshop for English grad students via Zoom, and remote one-on-one conferences with several English majors and minors. English major Anneke Zegera, ’22, was one of the students who enjoyed a one-on-one conference with Caryl Phillips. Zegera shared some remarks about this experience: “Caryl Philips has a sophistication about him that is spectacular to experience. He is very warm and encouraging, but he also speaks with a firmness which inspires confidence. He is very educated; you can tell just by listening to the inflections in his voice and the diction he uses. He sounds like a writer, just in the way he speaks. I felt at once empowered by his compliments of my writing and enlightened by his critiques. He nicely balanced his analysis of the problems and the strengths in my work. He has a lot more experience than anyone else I have ever talked to about my writing. I knew I could trust his advice as sound, since he knows what he is talking about. That isn't always the case with peer-workshops. I know that certain elements of my writing both the good and the bad may sometimes go unnoticed by my peers. Caryl Philips noticed everything. I felt like he took the time to read my writing thoroughly. He put in the effort to understand both what I was saying and what I was building toward.”
Phillips’ visit also included three virtual events open to the Duke community. The first of these events was a roundtable discussion on “Teaching Literary Characters.” Phillips joined a panel that included Duke English faculty members Amin Ahmad, JP Gritton, Akhil Sharma, Marianna Torgovnick, and Priscilla Wald to share and discuss techniques they use in their teaching and in their own literary works to develop characters. This event generated lively discussion amongst the participants and audience about how their teaching styles and character development approaches differed, and yet each writer’s method provided a useful addition to a toolkit for developing literary characters.
Phillips shared an assignment he often gives his students, which requires them to write an obituary for the characters in their works in an effort to help them to flesh out their characters. Phillips said that he feels this exercise helps writers develop a 360-degree review of a character's life. Professor Akhil Sharma shared with the panel that he likes to utilize exercises in his classes that help students to recognize the growth in their writing. These exercises often require his students to revise their work over and over again. In Professor Wald’s creative writing classes, she strives to help her students become effective thinkers and communicators. Creative writing instructor Amin Ahmad gave the audience an example of an assignment which aids his students in creating complex characters, beyond the plot-driven angle. Professor Marianna Torgovnick provided the audience with a slightly different perspective by discussing dialogue - what a character has to say - as a key element to development. Professor JP Gritton addressed point-of-view during his presentation about “teaching literary characters.”
The second of the open Blackburn Writer-in-Residence events was a lecture by Caryl Phillips. Phillips read a piece of his own work entitled "The Plight of the Colonial Migrant” and acknowledged that the opportunity to present this piece allowed him to make some revisions he felt were necessary. After reading the piece, he discussed the "Windrush Scandal" and how immigrants are so often determined to belong wherever they have chosen to settle. Phillips shared some of his personal experiences and how the opportunity to teach in the United States has helped him learn about American culture. Near the conclusion of his lecture Philips noted that he has observed what seems to be more of a cultural fusion in today's youth than there has been with past generations.
To conclude this year's Blackburn Writer-in-Residence event series, the English Department held a joint reading featuring Caryl Phillips and Akhil Sharma. During this reading event, the writers presented pieces of their work that are at very different stages of completion. Sharma read part of a short story he is currently working on, while Phillips read "A Life in 10 Chapters," a piece that he previously wrote for the Guardian.
Following the reading, Sharma sought feedback from the audience about the balance of the piece. He stated that he was not sure about some of the wording in the draft. He even went as far as to say that he was not sure that he was training the reader to read the story as he intends it to be read and that he plans to work on it more before it is published. Some of the writers in the audience told Sharma that he was brave because established writers often shy away from presenting pieces of work that are not complete in the writer’s eyes.
Phillips introduced his piece for the joint reading by saying that a conversation with a student following one of his virtual class visits helped him decide to read "A Life in Ten Chapters." He shared that the inspiration for this article was a request by Guardian for him to write something highlighting what books he read while growing up. He chose to use a creative format that allowed him to hint at the works he read without just listing them.
Becca Shneid '23 inquired during the Q&A how Phillips knew this was the format that he wanted to use for this piece. He responded by saying that how one decides on a format for a piece differs for every writer and that he often tries different methods to see what fits best.
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