David Wright is an American writer.

Early life and education

Wright grew up in Borger, Texas. His mother is a white Jewish woman who survived the Nazi occupation of Paris. Her parents were affluent, assimilated French Jews. His mother was a member of the French Communist Party; she immigrated to the US in the 1950s as the GI bride of an African-American soldier. He holds a BA from Carleton College and an MFA from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also studied at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Before he started teaching creative writing, he was a player/coach on various American football teams in Paris and London. He teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but lives in Texas. He has also published under the name "David Wright Faladé," in honor of his biological father, Max Faladé, from Porto-Novo in Benin, the grandson of Béhanzin, the last King of Dahomey.

Works

Books

Short stories

Documentary film

Television journalism

Awards