Noted Author, UB Lecturer D. Watkins: 'Reading is the Only Guaranteed Way to Find Success'
May 22, 2019
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Nationally acclaimed author D. Watkins, M.F.A. '14, a lecturer in the University of Baltimore's Klein Family School of Communications Design, tells The Baltimore Sun that the only sure way for students to achieve success is to read every day.
"Reading every day is the only way you can guarantee success for your life," Watkins said to a classroom of Patterson High School students recently. "It's the only way you can grow as a critical thinker. When you learn how to think critically, you learn how to make good decisions. When you learn how to make good decisions, you can do the right things with your life."
Watkins, author of critically praised books including The Cook-Up, The Beast Side, and the newly released We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America, visited with Baltimore students alongside city residents who have achieved their own success. The Sun noted that Watkins's publisher provided 1,000 copies of We Speak for Ourselves to be given to local students for free.
"In addition, Watkins made sure that the schools wanted the books before he showed up at classroom doors," the Sun reported. "In November, he launched a social media campaign inviting teachers and students to compete for copies by submitting poems, essays or posts explaining why their school should receive the books. After receiving a few hundred submissions, Watkins said, a dozen city schools were selected."
Read the article in The Baltimore Sun.
Learn more about the Klein Family School of Communications Design.