Eric Darnell Pritchard

Eric Darnell Pritchard is an educator, scholar, writer, and the endowed Brown Chair in English Literacy and Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. They are also the founding Director of the Community Literacies Collaboratory, which supports literacy partnerships for children, adolescents, and adults in Arkansas and nationally through a vision centered on an ethics of justice, imagination, community accountability and love.

Author of the award-winning book Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy, their debut picture book biography, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams was published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in 2026. Eric’s writings have appeared in numerous scholarly and popular volumes including The New York Times, Harvard Educational Review, The International Journal of Fashion Studies, Public Books and Ebony Magazine. They have been quoted as an expert in publications including VOGUE, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian.

Eric has also authored several essays in catalogues for fashion and contemporary art exhibitions at numerous museums including Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The de Young Museum, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the Fuller Craft Museum.