R. Dwayne Betts' poetry has been widely published and he is the winner of the 2009 Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books. He is a Breadloaf Writer’s Conference scholarship recipient, a finalist for the 2007 Ruth Lily fellowship, and received Honorable Mention for the 2007 Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest. He’s taught poetry and made appearances at several Washington, DC metropolitan schools, and currently is Program Director with the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop. Betts earned his degree from the University of Maryland, where he was the recipient of a prestigious TAES scholarship. He was also awarded the Holden Fellowship to attend Warren Wilson College’s Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers. His debut book of poetry, Shahid Reads His Own Palm, will be out in 2010. His memoir, A Question of Freedom, was released in 2009. Click here to read an excerpt.
Raised in Suitland, Md., Betts is a testament to the ability to turn one's life around. The only child of a single mother, his earliest years showed the kind of academic promise that leads children to be labeled as gifted. His behavior changed in high school and, at 16, he began a journey that would end with a nine-year prison sentence. Betts spent most of his teens and early 20s in prison, and while incarcerated in some of the toughest adult prisons in Virginia, Betts learned to question his own decisions and began to shape his life into something he could be proud of.
In 2007 he graduated with high honors from Prince George’s Community College and on May 21, 2009 he had the honor of addressing his peers and classmates at the 2009 University of Maryland commencement. His story is a compelling one, and has led him to speak at congressional briefings, on panels with distinguished judges, lawyers and advocates on the issues revolving around juvenile justice reform and rehabilitation. He is currently the National Spokesperson for the Campaign for Youth Justice. Click here to read his commentary that recently ran in The Baltimore Sun.
(photo by H. Darr Beiser/USA Today)
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