Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Campbell.
Hi Bob, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m a writer based in Flint, Mich. My debut novel, MOTOWN MAN, was published in November 2020 by Urban Farmhouse Press (Windsor, Ontario).
My creative nonfiction, essays and novel excerpts have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Belt Magazine, Forge Literary Magazine, Hypertext Magazine and Gravel Magazine I’ve also been a guest on the All Write in Sin City (podcast). I’m a contributor to Belt Publishing’s Midwest Architecture Journeys, published in October 2019. My essay is titled The Flat Lots of Flint: A Liminal State of Mind.
Additionally, I’m the author of Flint to Shay: History of a Black Resort in the Middle of White Michigan, a 6,300-word essay to be included in Exploring Mideast Michigan’s Empty Spaces: A Traveler’s Guide. The project was inspired by the regional guides produced in the 1930s America by the WPA/Federal Writers’ Project. Exploring Mideast Michigan’s Empty Spaces is slated for publication by Michigan State University Press in early 2026.
I was the 2022-2023 Writer In Residence for the Buckham Fine Arts Project at Buckham Gallery in Flint, Mich. My creative nonfiction compositions are compiled in a book titled Observations, Volume 3, published by Buckham Gallery.
Earlier in my career, I was a staff writer for the Flint Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader and Detroit Free Press. I was also an electrician at AC Spark Plug, formerly a division of General Motors, before moving into journalism.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road hasn’t been smooth. As previously noted, I completed electrician’s apprentice at AC Spark Plug in the mid- 1980s. It was during that time that I developed a strong interest in journalism and writing. After becoming a journeyman electrician, I went on to complete a bachelor’s degree in communications at the University of Michigan-Flint. However, because I didn’t graduate from a school of journalism, it was tough breaking into the business. While in school, I wrote for a longtime community news publication called East Village Magazine. The experience enabled me to compile a decent collection of clips that helped me land a job as a stringer with the Flint Journal. Stringing for The Flint Journal led to internship with the paper and eventually a full-time position. Meanwhile, I resigned from GM to pursue a journalism career.
After a couple years with the Flint Journal, I landed a job with the Lexington Herald-Leader covering state and federal courts. It was an amazing experience at an outstanding newspaper. I moved back to Michigan in 1998 to take a job at the Detroit Free Press as an Oakland County reporter. It was largely an unsatisfying experience for different reasons and I decided to leave the paper after a year. I eventually made the jump to the dark side and began working in public relations.
I began dabbling in creative writing while working as a journalist. I took a few classes here and there, but never got anything published. The germ of idea for what later became my novel Motown Man occurred during this time. It was a loosely based on a news story published in a paper I was working for at the time. I didn’t cover that news story by the way.
There was a number of fits and starts with the novel, and a lot of rejections of the finished manuscript, before it was finally picked up by Urban Farmhouse Press.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a writer and published author. My novel is probably my proudest achievement. It took quite a while to finish, and I even misplaced the draft manuscript at one point during an extended lull in writing. It’s what I’m best known for as a writer.
However, there a couple of essays that are favorites, too: “The Flat Lots of Flint: A Liminal State of Mind”, published in Midwest Architecture Journeys, and “Flint to Shay: History of a Black Resort in the Middle of White Michigan”. The former is a survey of some of noteworthy buildings in downtown Flint juxtaposed with the overabundance of surface parking in area. It laments how so much of downtown was bulldozed to make room for parking while offering a glimmer of hope for a better future the built environment. The latter is piece about the history of the Shay Lake and how it came to become the “new Black Eden” in east Michigan. My family also owned a cottage at the lake. In addition, the one-year Writer in Residence at Buckham Gallery was a terrific experience. Observation, Vol. 3, the compilation of my essays written during the residency is my second book. I’m extremely grateful for the experience, and I remain active with the gallery as a board member and an artist collaborator.
What sets me apart for my writing peers locally is that I’ve written much about the humanity of Black men as well as the history and nostalgia of the city in which I grew up.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a typical kid growing up in the 1970s. Playing touch football in the street, riding our bikes far and wide, being mischievous oftentimes. I could be a smartass at times, which is still a personality trait. I was a decent student who didn’t always apply himself as well as I could or should have. That changed in high school where I became a very good student. Looking back, that’s also where I discovered that I enjoyed writing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bobcampbellwrites.com
- Instagram: @bcampbellwrites
