Oral History Collection

Rebecca Gayle Howell is a graduate of the University of Kentucky (B.A., M.A.), Drew University (M.F.A.), and Texas Tech University (Ph.D.). She currently serves as an assistant professor in the Program in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas.

Major Jackson earned a B.S. from Temple University and an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Oregon. He currently is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University.

Ruben Quesada holds an M.F.A. in creative writing and writing for the performing arts from the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph.D. in English from Texas Tech University. Currently, he teaches literature and creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.

Tracy K. Smith earned degrees from Harvard University (B.A.) and Columbia University (M.F.A.). She currently serves as a professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard University and as the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.