Reginald Dwayne Betts
| Reginald Dwayne Betts | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1, 1980 |
| Occupation | poet, teacher |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | African American |
| Education | Prince George's Community College; University of Maryland; Warren Wilson College. Yale University |
Reginald Dwayne Betts (born February 1, 1980) is an American poet, memoirist, and teacher. He is author of A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison (Penguin/Avery, 2009), Shahid Reads His Own Palm (Alice James Books, 2010), winner of the 2010 Beatrice Hawley Award, and Bastards of the Reagan Era (Stahlecker Selections, 2015). He was a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow.[1]
Contents
Arrest
According to The Washington Post, Betts was an exceptional student who veered off-course in high school, landing himself in serious legal trouble.[tone] He was an honors student and class treasurer at Suitland High School in the Washington, D.C. suburb of District Heights, Maryland. At the age of sixteen, he and a friend carjacked a man who had fallen asleep in his car at the Springfield Mall.[2] Betts was charged as an adult and spent more than eight years in prison, where he completed high school and began reading and writing poetry.
After prison
After his release from prison, he found a job working at Karibu Books in Bowie, Maryland, where he was eventually promoted to store manager and founded a book club for African American boys, while attending Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland.[3] He is currently attending Yale Law School.[4]
Since then, his honors include a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference scholarship, the Holden Fellowship to attend the M.F.A. program at Warren Wilson College and a Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.[5] He is a Cave Canem Workshop fellow, and was a full scholarship student at the University of Maryland, where he earned his B.A. He currently teaches poetry with the DC Creative Writing Workshop at Hart Middle School.[6][7] According to USA Today, he is also the national spokesman for the Campaign for Youth Justice, and speaks out for juvenile-justice reform. He also visits detention centers and inner-city schools, and talks to at-risk young people.[8]
In 2012, President Barack Obama announced that Betts had been named a member of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [9]
His poems have been published in literary journals and magazines including Ploughshares, [10] Crab Orchard Review and Poet Lore.[11]
As of 2013, Betts teaches an Intro to Nonfiction course at Emerson College. He is currently a student at Yale Law School.
Bibliography
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Poetry
Collections
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List of poems
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| What we know of horses | 2011 | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| A conversation | 2006 | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| let me tell you bout the night i died | 2008 | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Misunderstood | 2008 | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Soldier's song | 2008 | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Non-fiction
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References
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| External media | |
|---|---|
| Audio | |
 Audio Interview: Ex-Convict Writes About 'A Question of Freedom" Scott Simon, NPR |
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| "Audio Interview: "Coming of Age in Prison- Reginald Dwayne Betts", WAMU The Kojo Nnmadi Show |
|
| In 'Bastards Of The Reagan Era' A Poet Says His Generation Was 'Just Lost', Fresh Air, December 8, 2015 |
|
| Video | |
 Furious Flower presents R. Dwayne Betts, James Madison University, September 17, 2015 |
|
| "R. Dwayne Betts: A Mind Unconfined by Jail", Craig Wilson, USA Today |
|
| Video- Reading & Interview- Reginald Dwayne Betts, USA Today |
- Author's website this URL returns HTTP error 404 as of June 10, 2014
- Author Page > Reginald Dwayne Betts > Alice James Books
- The Washington Post > From Inmate to Mentor, Through Power of Books > by Lonnae O'Neal Parker > October 2, 2006
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ The Washington Post > From Inmate to Mentor, Through Power of Books > by Lonnae O'Neal Parker > October 2, 2006
- ↑ NPR Interview 12/8/15 with Terry Gross, Fresh Air
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Author Page > Reginald Dwayne Betts > Alice James Books
- ↑ Ploughshares Blog > December 11, 2008 > New Voices: Reginald Betts
- ↑ USA Today > Life > Books > R. Dwayne Betts: A Mind Unconfined by Jail by Craig Wilson
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ploughshares > Authors & Articles > Reginald Dwayne Betts
- ↑ Author Page > Reginald Dwayne Betts > Alice James Books
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
