Curtis Warren Dawkins (DOC photo)
Michigan inmate Curtis Warren Dawkins, convicted of murdering Tom Bowman of Kalamazoo in 2004 while on crack, in July published “The Graybar Hotel,” a collection of short stories about prison life by an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Dawkins, 49, who is serving a life sentence without parole at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, is no ordinary prisoner. He has a master of fine arts degree.
Francis X. Donnelly of The Detroit News writes:
Some wonder if it’s proper to praise a person involved in such a heinous act. Can the art be separated from the artist, extolling one and reviling the other?
Bowman’s brother, Ken, said Dawkins shouldn’t be allowed to publish anything or feel any satisfaction in his life. He wishes Michigan had the death penalty, which he would have been happy to administer himself.
“I’m a Marine. I was taught to kill,” Ken Bowman said. “I would have killed that son of a (expletive) and enjoyed every second of it.”
Others see Dawkins as a story of redemption. He took something horrible and made something beautiful, they say. By giving such an insightful glimpse into the life of prisoners, the book gives a voice to the voiceless.
Still, they struggle to reconcile his two personas, the paradox at the heart of his own story: creator and destroyer, writer and killer.
