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The Alabama Humanities Alliance (AHA) has announced that Rick Bragg, professor in the department of Journalism & Creative Media and author, will be inducted as one of AHA’s Alabama Humanities Fellows on December 2 at the Alys Stephens Center’s Jemison Concert Hall in Birmingham. During the event, Bragg and fellow inductee Roy Wood Jr. will discuss storytelling and the value it holds on individuals and communities.
“This honor from Alabama Humanities means a lot to me,” said Bragg, “I’ve been trying to tell the stories of the people of my state all my life, and to have someone see the value in that – whether it is an organization like this or a simple letter from a reader – reminds me of the value in those stories.”
Bragg is being celebrated by AHA for his illustrative, vibrant storytelling that has made him a significant writer in American literature. Bragg’s storytelling comes not from fantasy, but the voice of reality. His works are nonfiction: memoirs, biographies and literary collections that tell stories of poverty, struggle and hardship mixing with humor, love and courage.
“I’ve never been anything but a storyteller, and I come from a long line of them. Once, I wanted to be an architect, but I couldn’t do the math” said Bragg, “Now I try to teach it, which is an honor, and I hope the young people see the value in the stories – and people – too.”
Bragg has authored 12 books, many incorporating his southern heritage, such as All Over But the Shoutin, Where I Come from: Stories from the Deep South, and The Prince of Frogtown.
“Gritty and grim, true; but beyond that, these tales reveal the steely courage it takes to overcome even the most difficult obstacles life throws our way. And the grandeur?” wrote Cassandra King, award-winning author and AHA fellow, about Bragg’s writing, “That comes in the telling, the magnificent tribute paid to those unheard voices by giving them a venue to have their say, to tell their stories.”
Bragg worked as a journalist for several years, before joining the New York Times in 1994, writing about the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Susan Smith trial. Afterward, he taught writing, eventually becoming a professor at UA’s journalism program where he teaches students how to write for publication. He currently writes a monthly column for Southern Living and regularly contributes to Garden & Gun.
Bragg was inducted into C&IS’s Hall of Fame in 2016. He has also won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting, the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer, and the Fitzgerald Literary Prize, among others.
If you would like to see more of Bragg’s writing, you can read his work in Southern Living or at Penguin Random House.
Mosaic is the annual magazine of the AHA. The magazine centers on stories that highlight Alabama and its people. Their latest issue celebrating AHA’s 50th anniversary is out now.
Tickets to Bragg’s conversation with Wood can be purchased on the Alys Stephens Center’s event page.