'Read, write . . .and wait'

 

“Thereis no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinablewhich we call 'the breaks.' In order for a writer to succeed, I suggest threethings - read and write - and wait.” – Countee Cullen

 

Born in Kentucky in 1903, Cullen wasa renowned member of the Harlem Renaissance writing movement.  He began writing in high school, where heedited the school newspaper and literary magazine and won a citywide poetrycompetition.  He studied at NYU where he earned numerous awards for his writing and scholarship,graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1925.  Shortlythereafter his professional writing career was jump-started with the publication of his first acclaimedbook of poetry, Color.      

 

After publication of two moreaward-winning volumes, Copper Sun and The Ballad of the Brown Girl,Cullen was firmly established as a leading light among African-Americanwriters.   Also a novelist, children’sauthor and playwright, he was just starting to make a splash with histheatrical writings when he died suddenly at the age of 43 due to  complications from highblood pressure. 

 

“Remember,”Cullen said about writers, “we must be one thing or the other, an asset or a liability, thesinew in your wing to help you soar, or the chain to bind you to earth.”

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