Lucinda Roy

Lucinda Roy, Alumni Distinguished Professor

_{Department of English

415 Shanks Hall

180 Turner Street, NW

Blacksburg, VA 24061

540-231-6146 | lroy@vt.edu}

Novelist, poet, and memoirist Lucinda Roy is an Alumni Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech. Her latest novel is The Freedom Race (Tor/Macmillan), Volume I of The Dreambird Chronicles, a speculative slave narrative trilogy. Among her previous books are Fabric: Poems, the memoir No Right to Remain Silent: What We’ve Learned from the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, the novel Lady Moses (a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), and the poetry collection The Humming Birds, winner of the Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize. She gives keynotes and presentations on creative writing, race and racism, diversity, higher education and campus safety. Several audiobooks of her novels and nonfiction have been produced. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and journals, including USA Today, the Guardian, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the New York Times; and she has appeared on many television shows, and radio shows, and podcasts, including the CBS Evening News, Sunday Morning, Today, BBC News documentaries, Sky News, and NPR broadcasts.

You can follow Professor Roy on Twitter @LRoyAuthor and Facebook at LucindaRoyProfessor.

Principal Areas of Research Focus

Creative Writing: Fiction
Creative Writing: Poetry
Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Race & Diversity
Speculative Fiction

Education

MFA in Creative Writing, University of Arkansas
BA (hons.) in English, King’s College, London

Professional Roles

Chair of English, Virginia Tech, 2002-2006
Founding Director and Co-Director, Creative Writing, 2001-2008
Alumni Distinguished Professor, 1997-present
Gloria D. Smith Professor, Africana Studies, 1995-1997.
Associate Dean for Curriculum, Outreach, and Diversity, College of Arts & Sciences, Virginia Tech, 1994-1996

Awards and Honors

Honorary Doctorate, University of Richmond
SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award
Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize

Publications

Books

The Freedom Race, a novel
Fabric: Poems
Lady Moses, a novel
The Hotel Alleluia, a novel
No Right to Remain Silent: What We've Learned from the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, a memoir-critique
The Humming Birds, a collection of poems
Wailing the Dead to Sleep, a collection of poems