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Christopher Curtis - Assembly line example
Identifier
001162
Type of Spiritual Experience
Dream
Out of body
Hallucination
Background
Christopher Paul Curtis (born May 10, 1953) is an African-American writer of children's books. He may be known best for the Newbery Medal-winning Bud, Not Buddy and the critically acclaimed The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963.
A description of the experience
From Assembly Line to Book Awards - By DINITIA SMITH; Published: January 22, 2000; The New York Times
Twenty-five years ago, when Christopher Curtis was working at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, Mich, hanging doors on Buicks one a minute, he would hallucinate at night about the assembly line. In his sleep, he would see the door frame waiting to be clamped onto a car. He would feel his bed moving underneath him. The only way he could escape the line's indelible imprint was to write. But Mr. Curtis never dreamed he could ever be a ''real'' writer.
That has changed now. Mr. Curtis, 46, has just won the Newbery Medal, the most important literary prize for children's books, and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for excellence by an African-American writer for his novel ''Bud, Not Buddy,'' published by Delacorte Press last September. He is the first person to win both awards at once, and the first black man ever to win the Newbery, one of the few literary awards that translates immediately into big sales.