Duquesne Names Inaugural August Wilson House Fellow
President Ken Gormley introduced the first Duquesne University August Wilson House Fellow as part of a special ceremony that included actor/director Denzel Washington and area dignitaries on Sept. 26.
The ground-blessing ceremony at the August Wilson House in the city’s Hill District celebrated the completion of the first phase of fundraising toward restoration of the childhood home of Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. Washington, who starred in the Broadway revival and movie version of Wilson’s Fences, is a lead fundraiser in the effort.
Poet Natasha Trethewey, also a Pulitzer Prize recipient, was named the first August Wilson House Fellow. The fellowship is supported by a $100,000 grant from the Nancy Jones Beard Foundation.
“These fellowships will allow gifted artists and scholars of color to live on Duquesne’s campus and work right here on this site and in the community enriching the creative, literary and cultural vitality of the Hill District, the city and our entire region,” Gormley said during the event.
Currently a Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University, Trethewey created the series Where Poetry Lives for PBS NewsHour, during the second of two terms as the 19th poet laureate of the United States. Her volume Native Guard received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, and her book Monument: Poems New and Selected was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award. Trethewey received the 22nd Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities category in 2017.
“As we bless the ground here on Bedford Avenue—and as we welcome Natasha into our Pittsburgh community—we are witnessing a rebirth of the spirit of August Wilson and the spirit of his birthplace in the Hill,” Gormley said.
Duquesne’s Honors College has partnered with the Daisy Wilson Artist Community since 2011 to promote the dream of Paul Ellis, Wilson’s nephew, to transform the home into a cultural hub for artists and scholars.
“I will do everything I can to keep this structure alive and sound; a place for us all to grow from,” Washington said. “I’m thankful. I’m grateful. I’m humble. I’m hopeful, and I’m determined.”