On April 19, Fordham’s English Department hosted the Reid Writers of Color Series. Since the first Reid Writers of Color event in 2008, the English Department has hosted numerous award-winning writers of color such as Junot Díaz, Tracy K. Smith and Renee Gladman. This year, the Reid Writers of Color hosted Angie Cruz, a novelist whose primary works include “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water” and “Dominicana.”

In 2007, a few faculty members in the English Department chose to incorporate a book by an author of color into the English curriculum.

“We were floating this idea that, as a department, we should draw attention to writers of color and give students across classes a book by a writer of color so they could think together about it and we, as a department, could celebrate writers of color,” said Susan Greenfield, an English professor at Fordham.
When Frances Reid’s son entered Fordham as an undergraduate, Reid jumped at the opportunity to contribute to Fordham’s diversity initiatives and support BIPOC. During her son’s time at Fordham, he read very few books by writers of color. Reid wanted to make a donation and have the money go towards a literary series.

“It’s tremendously important not only to undergraduates looking at Fordham’s English program…her generous request year after year, being so involved, has genuinely changed the literary landscape,” said Mary Bly, chair of the English department.

That same year, Sarah Gambito, professor and director of creative writing, was hired. Through the English department’s initial initiative to teach a book by a writer of color, Reid’s generous donation and Gambito’s leadership, the English Department hosted the first Reid Writer’s of Color Series in 2008.
“Sarah Gambito was able to really turn this into a huge event and so that’s what happened from 2008 between the grant from the Reids and the arrival of Gambito the program took off,” said Greenfield.
Throughout the last decade, an increasing number of faculty have participated in the event and incorporated the Reid book into their curriculum. The Reid Writers of Color series has hosted a number of prestigious authors, many who have won Pulitzer Prizes.

“Frankly, the people we’ve had come have a habit of winning prizes. We’ve gotten people who are right on the cusp of getting famous,” said Bly.

This year’s writer of color, Angie Cruz, read an excerpt from her newest novel “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water,” participated in a brief Q&A and signed students’ books. “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water” was featured in New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022.

“As a child who was not allowed to speak until spoken to, I had to listen a lot. I was born into a family of professional storytellers so I’ve been training to tell stories for my entire life,” began Cruz.
Cruz, a New York-born Dominican, shared that she started her own archive of photos and stories by interviewing working-class women. In 2017, Cruz was losing hope in her aspiration to be a writer. However, she was struck by inspiration for her novel “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water” when she was reminded of these women while waiting on a subway platform. The novel follows Cara Romero, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who loses her job in the Great Recession.

“The thing is Cara Romero came to me when I was seriously considering changing careers,” said Cruz.
Cruz wrote the beginning of the novel during her commute. She urged writers in the audience to not give up on their writing, sharing that she received numerous rejection letters from editors while she was trying to publish “Dominicana.”

“My message is don’t give up, believe in your work and allow yourself to be as weird as possible through your work,” said Cruz.

During the Q&A portion of the event, Cruz talked about how her relationship with her mother inspired “Dominicana.” Cruz said that after she began her education at SUNY Binghamton, she could feel the distance between her and her mother.

“When I think about writing this book [“Dominicana”], it was because I really wanted to close that space between me and my mother. Because of my education, I think she felt judged by me. But when she read the book, she felt seen,” reflected Cruz.

Reflecting on the event, Greenfield said that she believes the Reid Writers of Color Series is one of the single most important events Fordham offers.

“It’s hugely important for students and the community to celebrate, support and treat with absolute intellectual rigor the work of writers of color who, for way too long, and still to this day, are grossly underrepresented in academia,” said Greenfield.