A single book can change your whole life.
For award-winning novelist, college professor and Carnegie Mellon University alumna Jewell Parker Rhodes (DC 1975, 1976, 1979), it was Gayl Jones’ “Corregidora” in Hunt Library.
“It was a revelation. Even though I wrote stories and poetry, I never thought I could be a writer,” Jewell recalls. “None of the characters I read about were black, and none of the authors were black. CMU’s library opened a horizon that I didn’t even know was possible for me.”
She soon changed her focus from musical theater and dance to English and started a new path that would lead to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from CMU, a life in academia and an endowed chair in creative writing at Arizona State University, countless writing awards, two writing guides, a memoir, six adult novels and five (soon to be six) books for middle-grade students.
Read more about Rhodes' career path.