Literary Arts

James Schevill was an invaluable member of the first cohort of faculty who led Brown’s writing program (now the Literary Arts Department), teaching both poetry and playwriting. Author of about a dozen books of poetry and over thirty plays (including Lovecraft’s Follies and Cathedral of Ice), he was also a man of conscience, refusing to sign a loyalty oath (at the time required of those teaching in public institutions of learning in California), passing up the chance to teach at UC Berkeley and instead joining the faculty at California College of Arts and Crafts. Along with Edwin Honig and Keith Waldrop, James Schevill was a founding member of Wastepaper Theater, a multi-decade venue for producing literary performance works in Rhode Island.