Speak with Ethel Morgan Smith and her passion for her work and subject matter are immediately evident.

Smith, who teaches creative writing and African-American literature in West Virginia University’s Department of English, will take that passion with her to Germany Jan. 30-Feb. 12 when she will speak as part of Black History Month.

Martina Kohl, cultural affairs specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, extended the invitation to Smith to lecturean invitation that will take her to Berlin, Koln, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Tuebingen, Munchen and Munich during the two-week span.

Her main lecture,Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance,will take place at the Kennedy Institute at Freie University in Berlin . The lecture focuses on four writersJessie Fauset, Zoraneale Hurston, Jessie Fauset and Dorothy Westwhose work was published in the 1920s and 1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked a period where blacks’artistic expression was redefined through a large quantity and quality of literary output.

She is looking forward to her time at Freie, as noted author W.E.B. DuBois studied there for two years in the 1890s.

Smith was a Fulbright lecturer on African-American literature in Tuebingen , Germany , in 1997-98. Staying in touch with several people she met then led to her recent invitation. In fact, two of the students she taught on her first trip are now teachers themselves.

After her lecture in Berlin , she will be visiting German-American institutes in other cities to train exchange students at the high school and University level.

There is nice interaction with the German students,Smith said.It is a pure joy to teach them as they are so well-prepared.

While Toni Morrison is the most widely read black American author in Germany , Smith plans to introduce works by writers students may not be aware of. They includeLeaving Atlantaby Tayari Jones,Coming of Age in Mississippiby Anne Moody, the earlier works of Alice Walker, short stories by ZZ Packer andThe Bluest Eyeby Morrison.

High school students in Germany like coming-of-age novels, which I’ll focus on,Smith said.I’ll also discuss the civil rights movement and where we are today, which is timely with the passing of Rosa Parks.

Smith, whose influences include Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni and the late James Baldwin, learned to read by reading old newspapers out loud to her sisters.

Once I learned to read, my world changed forever,she said.

While working another job, she enrolled in creative writing courses at Emory University . Encouraged by friends, Smith enrolled in the creative writing program at Hollins College . After obtaining her graduate degree, she was invited to Virginia Tech by Giovanni. After three years teaching at Tech, she joined the English faculty at WVU in 1993.

Smith is the author ofFrom Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College.She is currently working onGlobal Grace: Memoirs of an African-American in Germanywith plans to add another chapter on going back.