Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks with Cadet Fellows

The much-celebrated writer Ta-Nehisi Coates met with a small group of Cadet Writing Fellows on for a conversation moderated by Dr. Jason Hoppe, director of the Writing Fellows Program. The discussion addressed key processes and principles of effective writing as well as the specifics of Coates's own work on race, family, and education. The author of several books, including Between the World and Me, the 2015 National Book Award winner in non-fiction, and most recently We Were Eight Years in Power, Coates is a regular contributor to The Atlantic and an influential and provocative public intellectual. In preparation for the visit, cadets and faculty met on multiple occasions to consider the implication of Coates's contributions for future Army officers. Fellows also prepared several gifts for Coates, including a compendium of responses to Coates's work that reflect, just as he does in Between the World and Me, on "the Dream".