D. Watkins is a columnist for Salon. His work has been published in the New York Times, Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He holds a master's in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore. He is a college professor at the University of Baltimore and founder of the BMORE Writers Project. Watkins has been the recipient of numerous awards including Ford's Men of Courage and a BME Fellowship. Watkins is from and lives in East Baltimore. He is the author of The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America.
"Amazing storytelling that brings us deep into the reality of East
Baltimore. A moving and important piece of contemporary
memoir."--Wes Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Work
and The Other Wes Moore
"Bleakly humorous, original prose, which pinballs between stoned,
brand-focused, hip-hop excess and a more contemplative
tone...Watkins provides a gritty, vivid first-person document of a
desperate demographic."--Kirkus Reviews
"D. Watkins is beautifully unusual. Having lived the horrors within
the heart of our inner city Baltimore first-hand and having
acquired the heights of collegiate achievement, D. Watkins is
uniquely equipped to communicate our political and social
challenges of urban America not only through the lens of academia
but through empirical knowledge as well. He is the voice of the
future seamlessly blending the wisdom of the streets and
intellectual prowess in a way I have never experienced
before."--Jada Pinkett Smith
"D. Watkins is his generation's David Simon. Another brilliant
storyteller who takes you into the heart of East Baltimore and
never flinches as he shows you the real."--Tour�, author of Who's
Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now
"D. Watkins' THE COOK UP is a bold, necessary dispatch from the
streets, where a kid born into a hustler's life must fight for
survival-and his soul. Watkins may have been a drug dealer, but he
was caught up in his own addictions: To rampant consumerism, the
numbness of Percocets, and a fantasy of the high-flying American
dream. His book shows the astonishing evolution of a man who traded
cheap fixes for the mighty power of the written word."--Sarah
Hepola, New York Times bestselling author of Blackout: Remembering
the Things I Drank to Forget
"In the tradition of James Baldwin's "Letter From a Region in My
Mind," THE COOK UP is a personal history that complicates racial
stereotypes...Watkins knows his readers live in different Americas.
THE COOK UP is their invitation to notice one another standing in
the same line."--TheAtlantic.com
"Stunning."--Baltimore City Paper, Best Memoir 2016
"The East Baltimore of D. Watkins is distant from where I live by
twenty-five, maybe thirty blocks. It might as well be a country
other than my own. This is the United State we abandoned and then
forgot, the margins of a thriving, information-age America where
mass labor is no longer essential, where the factories and
warehouses and piers are empty or gone, and where Johns Hopkins
University is the second largest employer -next to the illegal drug
trade. And the corners are always hiring. That Watkins threaded his
way from those corners to the page is rare enough. That he is so
committed to pulling this world through with him-enough of it to at
least rub our noses in it and make us acknowledge some collective
responsibility--is precious. These are angry pages."--David Simon,
author of The Corner and creator, HBO's The Wire
"THE COOK UP delivers a raw and honest account of life in East
Baltimore and a narrative of incredible strength and redemption. D.
Watkins is truly an artist."--King Mez, hip-hop artist
"THE COOK UP is an important story for both black and white
America, as well as this country's political leadership, to read,
if we're truly going to tackle the challenges that are facing our
communities all across the country."--Chuck Todd, correspondent on
NBC's Meet the Press
"THE COOK UP is an unflinching, raw, coming-of-age account of the
personal impact of the drug trade. Simply a must-read."--DeRay
Mckesson, activist and organizer
"THE COOK UP is classic and cinematic, told with an observational
acuity that hits you where it hurts."--Frannie Kelley, host of
NPR's Microphone Check
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