What does it mean to be a good literary citizen?
If you’re like me, you have a complicated relationship to the word “citizen.” As a citizen of the United States and a feminist living in Trump’s America, at times I find it difficult to reconcile both identities, in part because our culture can’t seem to reach consensus regarding definitions for either.
So when I attended the SLICE Literary Writers Conference in Brooklyn, New York back in September and heard the term “literary citizen” for the first time, I wanted to understand the role of literary citizenship in the lives of writers and their communities.
That’s why I created 12th Street’s Model Literary Citizenship Survey, a series of short interviews with model citizens in the New York City literary community.
First up: Bridgett M. Davis.
Bridgett M. Davis is a Brooklyn-based novelist, educator, and filmmaker. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Davis works as a Professor of Journalism and the Writing Professions at Baruch College, City University of New York, where she teaches creative, film, and narrative writing.
But that’s not all: Davis also wrote, directed, and produced the award-winning feature film Naked Acts, which premiered in 1996 and starred Ron Cephas Jones of This Is Us. The author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow and Shifting Through Neutral, Davis published her first memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers in January 2019.
12TH STREET: How do you define literary citizenship?
BRIDGETT M. DAVIS: Literary citizenship is participating in the literary communities that promote and support literature for the greater cultural good.
STREET: Why is it important for writers to practice good literary citizenship?
DAVIS: Writers are part of an ecosystem that grows and nurtures readers via all the myriad ways that book sales are generated: public events, reviews, media coverage, contests and awards, blurbs, etc. Writers write to be read, so it’s important for a writer to support that very ecosystem that cultivates their readers.
STREET: What can writers do to become better literary citizens?
DAVIS: Writers become better literary citizens by saying yes to tasks that do not directly benefit them. Writing a review for little money, providing a blurb for a lesser-known author, judging a less-than-high-profile contest—these are all examples of genuine literary citizenship.
STREET: Who are your favorite literary citizens?
DAVIS: My favorite literary citizens are Tayari Jones and Jennifer Baker.
STREET: Where can writers who are interested in practicing good literary citizenship go to connect with like-minded individuals and communities? Online and IRL?
DAVIS: Writers who want to be good literary citizens can start by supporting events featuring fellow authors, buying newly released books, and promoting other authors’ work on social media.
STREET: Anything else you’d like to add?
DAVIS: Literary citizenship strengthens the community of authors; it also helps writers with works-in-progress stay connected, share resources, educate and support one another. It’s about advocacy and knowing we’re all in this together; in a word it’s about reciprocity—which is the point of citizenship itself.