Each year, The Myron and Margaret Winegarden Visiting Professorship brings individuals of national
and international reputation to the University of Michigan-Flint campus.  This year, two writers of
world and national renowned, Tariq Ali and Christopher Paul Curtis will teach and/or interact with
classes, participate in meetings with students and faculty, conduct lectures for students, faculty, staff and the community. 

The Myron and Margaret Winegarden Visiting Professorship was established in 2001 through a generous
gift from the estate of Margaret Winegarden. 

“We are very honored and excited that distinguished individuals such as these will be serving our
University as Winegarden Professors,” said Provost Jack Kay. “We promise you that their visits will
be interesting and memorable.”

Academic Year 2008-09 ♦

Tariq Ali is an internationally renowned journalist, novelist, historian,
film-maker, and political commentator.  He was born in Pakistan but
as a result of his opposition to the military dictatorship, he was
forced to leave the country for England where he finished his
studies at Oxford University.  He was very prominent in student
movements in the ‘60s and even debated diplomats such as Henry
Kissinger about the war in Vietnam.  Tariq Ali is perhaps best known
for his novels and historical and political commentaries.  His second
novel, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1993) was an immediate
international best-seller.  He is also internationally well-known for his
 thought-provoking historical and political essays.  He has written a
superb social history of the 1960s, Street-Fighting Years, giving us an up-close look at figures
such as Malcolm X, Marlon Brando, and John Lennon.  Most recently, his book, Bush in
Babylon (2003), is a critique of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and brings the voices of poets and
 artists from the region.  Tariq Ali will be fulfilling his appointment as the 2008-09 Winegarden
Visiting Professor in the Winter Semester and lives in London with his family. 

Academic Year 2009-10 ♦

Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, the setting of
many of his books.  He was a  great reader, but as a youth, he could
not find books that “were about me.”  After high school, Curtis spent
 13 years on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant.
He attended college at night and wrote during his breaks to escape
the noise of the factory.  Christopher Paul Curtis made an
outstanding debut in children’s literature with The Watsons Go to
Birmingham – 1963, named a Newbery Honor Book and a Coretta
Scott King Honor Book.  His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, won the
 Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award.  Christopher Paul
Curtis will be fulfilling his appointment as the 2009-10 Winegarden
Visiting Professor during parts of both  the Fall and Winter Semesters.
  He lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with his wife, Kaysandra,  and their two children, Steven and Cydney.