Lucinda Roy Roy is the author of the novels Lady Moses and The Hotel Alleluia, two collections of poetry, Wailing the Dead to Sleep and The Humming Birds, and a book of nonfiction, No Right to Remain Silent: What We've Learned fromthe Tragedy at Virginia Tech. Lady Moses was selected by Barnes and Noble for their Discover Great New Writers series, and Roy won the Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize for The Humming Birds. She was awarded the Baxter Hathaway Poetry Prize for her long slave narrative poem “Needlework.” Roy’s commentaries and articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and journals, including the New York Times, USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Newsweek’s 2009 college guide, and she has been a guest on many TV and radio shows including Oprah, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, Sunday Morning, and the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Lucinda Roy is an Alumni Distinguished Professor in English at Virginia Tech. She earned her B.A. from King’s College, London, and her M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Arkansas. She has an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Richmond. Professor Roy has won a number of teaching and administration awards, including the college-wide Excellence in Administration Award, the university-wide Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, and a SCHEV statewide Outstanding Faculty Award from the Commonwealth of Virginia. She directed Virginia Tech’s Creative Writing program for eight years, and served as Chair of English from 2002-2006.

Roy teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in creative writing and literature at Virginia Tech, and gives keynotes and presentations in the U.S. and abroad on creative writing, higher education reform, campus safety, race, and women’s issues.