Acclaimed Novelist Speaks at HCC in Bridgeport

 Poet, novelist, and dramatist Richard Fewell of Bridgeport  uses personal experiences to color his stories expressing chapters of his life that are still being told.

     Fewell recently spoke during a “Writers in the Housatonic Classroom,” workshop at Housatonic Community College. Standing before the crowd of 40, unfolding the chapters of his life he read aloud passages from plays and nearly a dozen books he had written over the years. His humble voice filled the auditorium style room, as students, professors, and local supporters gazed upon a man who spoke more like a philosopher rather than an award-winning novelist and cancer survivor.

     One chapter tells the story of expanding one’s geographic horizons. Growing up in a segregated area of Rock Hill South Carolina, Fewell’s neighborhood was a hotbed for equal rights demonstrations during the 1950s. As a child he recalls crossing the Catawba River thinking he had finally reached the north. Later a boyhood friend who explained that he needed to travel much farther to reach northern territory corrected him. “All of our needs were met inside the community, if we went up-town to buy some shoes I knew we were home once I saw the river,” he said. He articulates these experiences in a book of poems, “Crossing Catawba: through the years 1955-1961,” published in 1993.

     Another chapter involves expanding one’s intellectual horizons. After leaving the Air Force in 1961, he attended the University of Bridgeport. Shortly after he graduated he began writing musical and theatric art reviews for local newspapers. As a former professor of African American Literature and Composition, he currently serves as the Play Development Coordinator at HCC. Eventually his interests in theater lead him to Yale and Long Wharf theaters in New Haven, where he worked to develop his own plays.

     Another chapter deals with his creative horizons. In 2009 Fewell’s creative writing helped him to develop characters for his theatric works “Ghosts within insomnia” and the “the Voice of Bones,” which premiered at the Stratford Theater. His most recent book titled “Everything Happens Today” revolves around the life of young soldier who has been shipped home from the Far East in a full body cast. The main character must endure mental and physical anguish while fighting a self-conflict.

     At the end of the workshop, Fewell leisurely signed copies of his new book while offering up some encouraging advice for new writers in the audience “just keep writing,” he said “we’re all writers and everyone can tell a story,” just keep writing.”

     “Every book has a part of the writer in it. Fiction is telling lies in order to reveal the truth.”