Alum Novelist Addresses Upper School

Martha Southgate spoke to Hawken`s Upper School students on Monday, September 26. The Upper School students read Fall of Rome over the summer. About the book, she said, "my attendance at [Hawken] was a formative experience of my life and this book is an attempt to examine, through imagined characters and lives, some aspects of what that experience meant to me and what it might mean for others." Southgate offered advice and anecdotes from her own life. On the subject of deriving art from personal experience she said that distance is necessary to understand and write about a topic. A writer, too, must be open to experience and be genuinely interested in the topics she examines. After discussing the writing craft, she answered questions, ranging from specific plot points to the influence of Hip-Hop on the American culture. Afterward, she signed copies of her book Fall of Rome. While she characterized her time at Hawken as sometimes difficult, Southgate said she is grateful for the excellent education that she received. As a minority within a minorityGÇöSouthgate was one of the first African American women to attend HawkenGÇöshe was a pioneer in the changing face of prep school culture is in the seventies. It was, however, an experience she does not regret. Southgate graduated from Hawken in 1978. She attended Smith College and received an MFA from Goddard. She has written for Essence, The New York Times and The New York Daily News and has just published her third novel, Third Girl From the Left. Her visit was part of a series hosted by the English department. Tim O`Brien, author of The Things They Carried, spoke to students last fall.