A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, Parks is the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and has won acclaim for her works Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), 365 Days/365 Plays, Topdog/Underdog, In the Blood, Venus (1996 OBIE Award), Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990 OBIE Award), and others.
Parks has written numerous screenplays, including Girl 6 for Spike Lee, and adapted Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God for "Oprah Winfrey Presents." Parks’ first novel, Getting Mother’s Body, is a novel with songs, set in the West Texas of her youth. Her adaptation of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. She teaches at New York University and serves at the Public Theater as its Master Writer Chair.
Parks will visit Bryn Mawr on Thursday, October 20, for an on-stage interview and Q&A in Goodhart auditorium, followed by the famous Balch Speaker themed dessert reception in Thomas Great Hall.This evening event is open to all students taking the Emily Balch Seminar, who will be encountering Parks’ work in their Balch Seminar classes in the weeks leading up to her visit.
Taught by scholar/teachers of distinction within their fields and across academic disciplines, Balch Seminars challenge students to think about complex, wide-ranging issues from a variety of perspectives.
Past speakers have included Cheryl Strayed, Alison Bechdel, Karen Russell, Zadie Smith, and Elizabeth Kolbert.