BIOGRAPHIES
Jim Alexander is an award-winning documentary photographer who has spent almost sixty years refining what he calls the art of documentary photography. He is a photojournalist, teacher, activist, media consultant and entrepreneur. Alexander is a 2021 Art and Social Justice Fellow at Emory University and received the 2021 Ebon Dooley Art and Social Justice, Lifetime Achievement Award. He received a 2017 Jus’ Blues Music Foundation Humanitarian Award, for his 50 + years of documenting Black music. Alexander has had over sixty solo exhibits and taught photography at Yale University and five other colleges, was photographer in residence at Atlanta’s Neighborhood Arts Center and photographer in residence at Clark Atlanta University. His work is in numerous major collections.
DFaye Anderson “I’ve come a long way since those Easter speeches I recited in Sunday school growing up on the Southside of Chicago. Now Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is where I live and write. In my poetry, songs, short fiction, and plays, I celebrate the divine in the ordinary. I celebrate the music that’s made me, the families, the rituals, church, and culture, all of the people in me. All the good parts, I credit them. SOAR!"
Kamari Bright With the goal of creating something that starts the process of healing for herself and others, Kamari Bright is a poet, videopoet, and creative that is heavily inspired by her life lessons and observations. The award-winning creator transcends the bounds of imagery and language by fortifying one with the other, creating a work more closely resemblant to the multi-sensory experiences of life.
Carlton Brown is the COO of Full Spectrum of NY, a regenerative real estate development company. He is a graduate of Princeton University School of Architecture, Adjunct Faculty Member at Pratt Institutes Graduate Planning Program, a board member of Global Green USA and frequent public speaker on regenerative development in disproportionately burdened and disinvested communities.
Karla Brundage is a Bay Area-based poet, activist, and educator with a passion for social justice. She believes that in order to restore balance to earth racist structures must be dismantled. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of Swallowing Watermelons and Mulatta- Not so Tragic. Her work is found in Konch, Hip Mama, sPARKLE & bLINK, and MiGoZine. She is the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange. https://www.karlabrundage.com/.
Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi born 4th April, 1977 from Ezere-Ovim in Isu Ikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. An alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a degree in Mass Communication. He is an authorpreneur whose books, including the drama text MONKEY BUSINESS, are available in paperback and digital forms like Amazon eBook. Chukwudi is based in Abuja, Nigeria and is an educator who has trained students in Ordinary and Advanced levels, and domestic and foreign examinations; a registered member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA); and a proprietor of Tenterhooks Services, a business that provides training and publishing services.
Gabrielle Dunn is a Senior Psychology major, English minor at Howard University from Newnan, Ga. Dunn is extremely passionate about advocating for the importance of mental health. During her freshman year, she joined an arts-based research group studying the healing qualities of art. She intends to utilize her training in Psychology within the education field. She wants her future classrooms to mimic a dynamic, safe place for individuals to grow academically and personally.
Shalena Dupree was born in St. Louis, MO, and is a senior, architecture major at Howard University. Dupree is set to graduate in May of 2022 with her Masters of Architecture. After graduation, Dupree plans to stay in Washington, D.C. to work in at architecture firm before transitioning to real estate. In the future, Dupree hopes to open a non-profit business that works to revitalize and redevelop underfunded African American communities.
José Angel Figueroa was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He is a poet, editor, playwright, actor, and a professor of Latinx literature at Boricua College. Recognized as a major contributor to the Puerto Rican and Latinx literary movement in the United States, he is best known for a diverse body of work that reflects a powerful social commentary. His works have been widely anthologized and translated. Among his books are Heartbeats, Rhythms, And Fire; A Mirror in My Own Backstage; Hypocrisy Held Hostage; Noo Jork; East 110th Street; and The Invisibles (with co-author George Malave)
Ife Grady is retired and embracing ease in the Republic of Panama. In retirement, she enjoys world travel, salsa dancing, and digital marketing. Before retirement, she worked in various capacities in Television, Radio, and Print media in New Haven, Ct, and Atlanta, GA. Her final career was as an Academic Librarian. She retired from North Carolina Central University in 2011. She holds a BA degree from Southern Connecticut University, an MA degree from Fairfield University, and an MLS from the University of Alabama.
Azariah Grant is a Howard University junior from Queens, New York. She studies Media, Journalism, and Film as a major and English as a minor. Her concentration is television & film. Grant wants to continue to create for Black people. She hopes to show what we’ve been through, as well as where we can go as a culture.
Gwen Russell Green is a freelance writer, and an educational consultant. She is the CEO of her company, Green Ideas, Inc. Her signature event, the Creative Collaboration in the Southeast, allows her to commission and pay writers, visual artists, musicians, and dancers. She has self-published two volumes of poetry, From the Edges, and Another beside Adam. Her work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines as well as in the Reach of Song poetry anthology published by the Georgia Poetry Society.
Akbar Imhotep: storyteller, poet, puppeteer, and toastmaster, took his first creative writing workshop at the Neighborhood Arts Center from Ebon Dooley. A professional storyteller since 1985, he "tells stories to make a living and writes poetry to stay alive". His poetry has been published in Potlikker and Catalyst. He has published three poetry collections; Love, Security & Devotion, Beyond Time & Space, and Insha'llah & The Creek Don't Rise.
Rashida James-Saadiya is a writer and cultural educator, utilizing storytelling as a lens to explore embodied knowledge and community care. Her latest project, Betraying the Spectacle, explores the constructs of race and the role of cultural memory and placemaking amongst Black Muslim women in the American South. Her creative work has appeared in Hand to Hand: Poets Respond to Race, Voyages Africana Journal, Kaleidoscope: Contemporary Muslim Voices, and Decomp, a multimedia journal in partnership with the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia.
Kyrah Jayne is a writer currently studying at Howard University. She has been published in the Sterling Notes. Another work of hers can be found in this year’s 2021-2022 issue. Jayne was raised on sitcoms and children’s cartoons and holds an immense love for the art of entertainment. It is her goal to write black women’s stories for television. She aims to allow the nuance and complexity of the black woman to become even more visible to the public.
James Weldon Jenkins Jr is a 1996 graduate from the University of Dayton where he received his B.A in English literature. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio he now resides with his wife and son in Florida. He has previously been published in various poetry magazines and a former member of an online Black writing workshop, deGriotSpace. He has been working as a software engineer for the last 30 years.
Gary Johnston has taught creative writing and read and performed at such places as Columbia University and numerous other locations both nationally and in the tri-state area. He has been published in,"New Rain", “Bum Rush The Page” “Let Loose on the World, Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75” and other small press publications. He is a New York State Foundation on the Arts Fellow, 1993 and winner of the William C. Wolfson Award for Poetry, BRIO Award, 1989, Member of Poets and Writers, Bronx Council on the Arts and African Diaspora Poets. Published: “Making Eyes Thru Morning", 1979 “Blue Suite, Voices & Memory, CD music & poetry 2005, and two chapbooks of poetry,”Tears of Answered Prayer”2012 and “Good Work for a Season 2013”. He is co-founder, editor, and publisher of Blind Beggar Press Inc.
Janice Liddell, Ph.D. retired as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Coordinator of Faculty Development at Atlanta Metropolitan College after serving in several capacities at Clark Atlanta University for nearly 35 years. She is the author of a children’s book and co-editor of a literary criticism collection; she is also the author of several published articles, poems, and plays produced nationally and internationally. Liddell is a wife, mother and grandmother and resides in Atlanta GA.
Luz María López (Puerto Rico). Bilingual author who publishes in Spanish and English. Poet, translator, editor, anthologist, lecturer, and international cultural promotor. President of the Academic Committee of the EMH International Book Fair in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Contributing Editor for “The Dhaka Review” – A Poetry Journal. Editorial Board of the Literary Magazine Taller Igitur Her many awards include Kathak Literary Award, Dhaka International Poets Summit, 2017; Shaan-E-Adab; Award, XI International Writers Festival, University of Udaipur, India, 2016. She has published eight books of poetry. Her poetry is translated into more than 20 languages and featured in books, literary magazines and international anthologies.
Alice Lovelace is a cultural worker, poet, and arts administrator who arrived in Atlanta in April 1976. In 1978 she, Ebon Dooley and Toni Cade Bambara founded The Southern Collective of African American Writers. In 1979 she writer-in-residence of the Neighborhood Arts Center. In 1983, with Ebon Dooley, Alice founded the Southeast Community Cultural Center. In 2022, she serves the organization as President of the Board, for the new ArtsXchange facility in East Point, GA. Her poems have been published widely in anthologies, and in Spanish and Swedish. She is co-editor of In Motion Magazine, a multicultural, online publication dedicated to issues of democracy.
Bill Marable 58, is a native of Humboldt, TN and has been writing poetry for more than four decades. He is a member of The Griot Collective of West Tennessee, a poetry/writer’s workshop under the leadership of noted poet, James E. Cherry. Marable’s poems have appeared in several publications, including ASU’s The Pierian Literary Journal, The Skinny Poetry Anthology and Nubianpoets.com.
Eric F. Maxie was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is currently living, working, and writing in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Morehouse College, he has published two volumes of poetry Whispers Through Stone Windows and Return To Forever, Lost Boys, and Other Poems. His works explore themes such as grief, mental health, poverty, and spirituality in the context of the historical impact of racism and inequality on the black community.
Tony Medina is a poet, editor, writer, and author. Born in the South Bronx, he earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 23 books for adults and young readers. He has received many awards and has read/performed his work all over the US and abroad. The first Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appear in over 100 journals and anthologies. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.
Kim B Miller is the Poet Laureate of Prince William County, Virginia: October 2020-October 2022, the First African American Poet Laureate for PWC, VA. Kim was recently featured on Voice of America-VOA, and on WTOP, 103.5 FM. Her poems have been published in African Voices magazine, a Portuguese haiku anthology, an interfaith anthology and several websites and books. Her latest book of poetry is My Poetry Is The Beauty You Overlook. Kim received several local and national awards in 2021. For more info visit www.kimbmiller.com.
Tony Mitchelson is a poet/writer who was born in New York City. Raised in Harlem, he presently resides in Newark, New Jersey. He is the author of a book of poems: Linyak Love. His writings have appeared in various publications over the past 40 years. Tony is co-founder of The Linyak Project - an Arts, Culture and Education organization aimed at highlighting, motivating, and encouraging people.
Natasha Muluswela is a Zimbabwean-born artist living in the United Kingdom. Her work focuses on different cultures and people, primarily Black culture; as well as challenging the perception of beauty and the diversity of the female body. To understand how perceptions of beauty work in society, she concentrates on the varying perception of what it means to be different as a Black woman. You can view her portfolio at: www.artxnatasha.com
Christian Myrick was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Morehouse College in May of 2018 cum laude. His work has also appeared in Morehouse College Catalyst and in October of 2016, he was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta International Honor Society. Being a member of Sigma Tau Delta provided him with the opportunity to present two of his unpublished works of fiction, "The Flood" and "the Tale of the Pagan Preacher" at their 2017 and 2018 International Convention. Currently, he serves as a writing tutor in the Writing Center at Morehouse College.
David Nwafor, a graduate of Linguistics from Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is a software developer, short story writer, novelist, and poet. He is the author of the novel Wiped Tears, which was published by Omega Press in 2014. His short story Mmesoma made AE-FUNAI anthology. His poems have been published in anthologies and online publications such as Poemify Magazine, Poet Duet Publication, Margins Magazine, as well as the Poetry Planet International Book Anthology. Others are forthcoming.
Mwatabu S. Okantah is Associate Professor, Director of the Ghana Study Abroad Program and Interim Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Kent State University. Okantah is the author of seven books of poetry published from 1983 to 2019. A 2019 BMe Community Genius Fellow, he is also the recipient of the 2021 Great Lakes Black Authors Expo, Alice Dunbar Nelson Literary Achievement Award. He has performed with the Iroko African Drum & Dance Society, with the Cavani String Quartet and with Vince Robinson and the Jazz Poets. For more info visit www.mkepoet1.com
Roger Parris -Playwright, actor, director, poet and arts educator. Awarded the 2010 Pioneer Audelco Award and appeared in the Academy Award documentary, Summer of Soul. Founder of the Zawadi Writers Ensemble and co-founder of the Potluck Poets. Recently directed and performed in We Write Truth, The Gospel and Often Times Swing, The Blues, a reading/Performance of original poetry and short stories. Presently writing, I Can Feel the Moon, a two-act play.
Imani Lillian Ross is a 4th year college student studying chemistry and mathematics at Howard University. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Snellville, Georgia, Ross is an avid reader and writer, primarily of dark poetry, fantasy, and science fiction. She spends her days attending classes, and her nights scrawling in ragged notebooks and consuming book after book. She is currently working on her first novel.
Michael Simanga, Ph.D. is an activist writer, multi-discipline artist, scholar, and educator. He is a scholar and educator in Africana Studies and his research interests include 20th century Black radical movements, Civil Rights, Black Power and Pan-Africanism, art, and culture as expressions of identity, resistance and transformation. He writes and lectures on Civil Rights/Black Power and Politics, African American and African Diaspora art, culture, politics and history, human rights, and justice. As an artist and cultural worker, he has produced more than 200 artistic projects and is the former Executive Director of the National Black Arts Festival.
Sequoia Simon is a 22-year-old graduating senior, double major in African-American Studies and English at Howard University from Atlanta, GA. She has a career interest in education and has been working with students, grades 5th through 8th, from D.C. and Chicago public schools during her time at Howard. Her plans after graduating from Howard University include pursuing a fellowship in education, exploring teaching opportunities abroad and domestic, and planning for graduate school.
Michelle R. Smith is a writer, educator, cultural facilitator, and native Clevelander. She is the author of the poetry collections Ariel in Black (2015) and The Vagina Analogues (2020). She has been published in poemmemoirstory, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, The Normal School, and The Gasconade Review. More information about her work can be found online at www.writermichellersmith.com.
SuAndi has enthralled audiences on all four continents and challenged perceptions of Black art and Culture at seminars and as a keynote conference speaker. Her one woman show “The Story of M” is taught on the “A” level curriculum and the MA in Black British Literature at Goldsmith’s. This Manchester born writer’s work has appeared in twenty-two anthologies and 8 children’s publications in addition to her 3 collections; ‘Style’, ‘Nearly Forty’ & ‘There Will Be No Tears’. Recognized for the diversity of her work, she has received numerous awards including the O.B.E. two honorary degrees and is a Writing Fellow at Leicester University.
Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet privileged to have read at the Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium. He is Artistic Director of the stalwart Jazz Poetry Ensemble UpSurge and has appeared at numerous festivals and venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival and Panafest in Ghana West Africa. He currently is Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report. He is Co-Chair of the NY Chapter National Writers Union (NWU). Read other articles by Raymond Nat or visit Raymond Nat's website.
Monica Lee Weatherly is a poet, writer and Professor of English at Georgia State University’s, Perimeter College. She is the winner of the Willie Morris Prize for Southern Poetry. Weatherly has had poetry published in Tulane Review, Plainsongs Magazine, Nzuri, and Auburn Avenue, a biannual publication showcasing the intellectual and creative voices of people of color. She is a member of the Georgia Writers Association and is listed in the Georgia Writers Registry. Her writing often focuses on the culture and experiences of women of the African Diaspora in the Americas.
Lo Williams is a poet, actor, and director. She has been an artist for many years, and is inspired by actors, scientists, musicians, and all other expressive people for her creativity. She has released one chapbook in December of 2021 and is thrilled and excited to be on her way to releasing a second. Williams is expected to graduate in May of 2022 from Howard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and plans to continue writing poetry.
Olumide Ted Wilson born and raised in Harlem is a writer, producer, promoter, and publisher of two books of poetry, Slo Dance and Senses and Shadows and a memoir, Kinda Blue, Memories of a Harlem Ivy League Teenager. He published Let Loose on the World, Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75 with associate publisher, SE Anderson. He has been a cultural worker since the 1960s in the Black Liberation/human rights movement His writings have appeared in many journals including The Black Nation and several anthologies including Black Fire, Anthology of Afro American Writing ed L. Jones and L. Neal.
Kenneth Zakee was born in Cleveland, Ohio and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an artist of many disciplines. As a spoken word artist, he has shared his work extensively. He paints and adorns gourds from West Africa and makes collages, wearable art, and handcrafted greeting cards. One of his collage/quilts was on display at the Southwest Art Center in the Good Trouble Quilt Exhibit Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Congressman John Lewis as part of the Atlanta Quilt Festival. Zakee can be reached at his studio at the Arts Xchange or on Facebook.
*Visual artists biographies are listed under artist's work.
DFaye Anderson “I’ve come a long way since those Easter speeches I recited in Sunday school growing up on the Southside of Chicago. Now Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is where I live and write. In my poetry, songs, short fiction, and plays, I celebrate the divine in the ordinary. I celebrate the music that’s made me, the families, the rituals, church, and culture, all of the people in me. All the good parts, I credit them. SOAR!"
Kamari Bright With the goal of creating something that starts the process of healing for herself and others, Kamari Bright is a poet, videopoet, and creative that is heavily inspired by her life lessons and observations. The award-winning creator transcends the bounds of imagery and language by fortifying one with the other, creating a work more closely resemblant to the multi-sensory experiences of life.
Carlton Brown is the COO of Full Spectrum of NY, a regenerative real estate development company. He is a graduate of Princeton University School of Architecture, Adjunct Faculty Member at Pratt Institutes Graduate Planning Program, a board member of Global Green USA and frequent public speaker on regenerative development in disproportionately burdened and disinvested communities.
Karla Brundage is a Bay Area-based poet, activist, and educator with a passion for social justice. She believes that in order to restore balance to earth racist structures must be dismantled. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of Swallowing Watermelons and Mulatta- Not so Tragic. Her work is found in Konch, Hip Mama, sPARKLE & bLINK, and MiGoZine. She is the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange. https://www.karlabrundage.com/.
Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi born 4th April, 1977 from Ezere-Ovim in Isu Ikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. An alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a degree in Mass Communication. He is an authorpreneur whose books, including the drama text MONKEY BUSINESS, are available in paperback and digital forms like Amazon eBook. Chukwudi is based in Abuja, Nigeria and is an educator who has trained students in Ordinary and Advanced levels, and domestic and foreign examinations; a registered member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA); and a proprietor of Tenterhooks Services, a business that provides training and publishing services.
Gabrielle Dunn is a Senior Psychology major, English minor at Howard University from Newnan, Ga. Dunn is extremely passionate about advocating for the importance of mental health. During her freshman year, she joined an arts-based research group studying the healing qualities of art. She intends to utilize her training in Psychology within the education field. She wants her future classrooms to mimic a dynamic, safe place for individuals to grow academically and personally.
Shalena Dupree was born in St. Louis, MO, and is a senior, architecture major at Howard University. Dupree is set to graduate in May of 2022 with her Masters of Architecture. After graduation, Dupree plans to stay in Washington, D.C. to work in at architecture firm before transitioning to real estate. In the future, Dupree hopes to open a non-profit business that works to revitalize and redevelop underfunded African American communities.
José Angel Figueroa was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He is a poet, editor, playwright, actor, and a professor of Latinx literature at Boricua College. Recognized as a major contributor to the Puerto Rican and Latinx literary movement in the United States, he is best known for a diverse body of work that reflects a powerful social commentary. His works have been widely anthologized and translated. Among his books are Heartbeats, Rhythms, And Fire; A Mirror in My Own Backstage; Hypocrisy Held Hostage; Noo Jork; East 110th Street; and The Invisibles (with co-author George Malave)
Ife Grady is retired and embracing ease in the Republic of Panama. In retirement, she enjoys world travel, salsa dancing, and digital marketing. Before retirement, she worked in various capacities in Television, Radio, and Print media in New Haven, Ct, and Atlanta, GA. Her final career was as an Academic Librarian. She retired from North Carolina Central University in 2011. She holds a BA degree from Southern Connecticut University, an MA degree from Fairfield University, and an MLS from the University of Alabama.
Azariah Grant is a Howard University junior from Queens, New York. She studies Media, Journalism, and Film as a major and English as a minor. Her concentration is television & film. Grant wants to continue to create for Black people. She hopes to show what we’ve been through, as well as where we can go as a culture.
Gwen Russell Green is a freelance writer, and an educational consultant. She is the CEO of her company, Green Ideas, Inc. Her signature event, the Creative Collaboration in the Southeast, allows her to commission and pay writers, visual artists, musicians, and dancers. She has self-published two volumes of poetry, From the Edges, and Another beside Adam. Her work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines as well as in the Reach of Song poetry anthology published by the Georgia Poetry Society.
Akbar Imhotep: storyteller, poet, puppeteer, and toastmaster, took his first creative writing workshop at the Neighborhood Arts Center from Ebon Dooley. A professional storyteller since 1985, he "tells stories to make a living and writes poetry to stay alive". His poetry has been published in Potlikker and Catalyst. He has published three poetry collections; Love, Security & Devotion, Beyond Time & Space, and Insha'llah & The Creek Don't Rise.
Rashida James-Saadiya is a writer and cultural educator, utilizing storytelling as a lens to explore embodied knowledge and community care. Her latest project, Betraying the Spectacle, explores the constructs of race and the role of cultural memory and placemaking amongst Black Muslim women in the American South. Her creative work has appeared in Hand to Hand: Poets Respond to Race, Voyages Africana Journal, Kaleidoscope: Contemporary Muslim Voices, and Decomp, a multimedia journal in partnership with the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia.
Kyrah Jayne is a writer currently studying at Howard University. She has been published in the Sterling Notes. Another work of hers can be found in this year’s 2021-2022 issue. Jayne was raised on sitcoms and children’s cartoons and holds an immense love for the art of entertainment. It is her goal to write black women’s stories for television. She aims to allow the nuance and complexity of the black woman to become even more visible to the public.
James Weldon Jenkins Jr is a 1996 graduate from the University of Dayton where he received his B.A in English literature. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio he now resides with his wife and son in Florida. He has previously been published in various poetry magazines and a former member of an online Black writing workshop, deGriotSpace. He has been working as a software engineer for the last 30 years.
Gary Johnston has taught creative writing and read and performed at such places as Columbia University and numerous other locations both nationally and in the tri-state area. He has been published in,"New Rain", “Bum Rush The Page” “Let Loose on the World, Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75” and other small press publications. He is a New York State Foundation on the Arts Fellow, 1993 and winner of the William C. Wolfson Award for Poetry, BRIO Award, 1989, Member of Poets and Writers, Bronx Council on the Arts and African Diaspora Poets. Published: “Making Eyes Thru Morning", 1979 “Blue Suite, Voices & Memory, CD music & poetry 2005, and two chapbooks of poetry,”Tears of Answered Prayer”2012 and “Good Work for a Season 2013”. He is co-founder, editor, and publisher of Blind Beggar Press Inc.
Janice Liddell, Ph.D. retired as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Coordinator of Faculty Development at Atlanta Metropolitan College after serving in several capacities at Clark Atlanta University for nearly 35 years. She is the author of a children’s book and co-editor of a literary criticism collection; she is also the author of several published articles, poems, and plays produced nationally and internationally. Liddell is a wife, mother and grandmother and resides in Atlanta GA.
Luz María López (Puerto Rico). Bilingual author who publishes in Spanish and English. Poet, translator, editor, anthologist, lecturer, and international cultural promotor. President of the Academic Committee of the EMH International Book Fair in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Contributing Editor for “The Dhaka Review” – A Poetry Journal. Editorial Board of the Literary Magazine Taller Igitur Her many awards include Kathak Literary Award, Dhaka International Poets Summit, 2017; Shaan-E-Adab; Award, XI International Writers Festival, University of Udaipur, India, 2016. She has published eight books of poetry. Her poetry is translated into more than 20 languages and featured in books, literary magazines and international anthologies.
Alice Lovelace is a cultural worker, poet, and arts administrator who arrived in Atlanta in April 1976. In 1978 she, Ebon Dooley and Toni Cade Bambara founded The Southern Collective of African American Writers. In 1979 she writer-in-residence of the Neighborhood Arts Center. In 1983, with Ebon Dooley, Alice founded the Southeast Community Cultural Center. In 2022, she serves the organization as President of the Board, for the new ArtsXchange facility in East Point, GA. Her poems have been published widely in anthologies, and in Spanish and Swedish. She is co-editor of In Motion Magazine, a multicultural, online publication dedicated to issues of democracy.
Bill Marable 58, is a native of Humboldt, TN and has been writing poetry for more than four decades. He is a member of The Griot Collective of West Tennessee, a poetry/writer’s workshop under the leadership of noted poet, James E. Cherry. Marable’s poems have appeared in several publications, including ASU’s The Pierian Literary Journal, The Skinny Poetry Anthology and Nubianpoets.com.
Eric F. Maxie was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is currently living, working, and writing in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Morehouse College, he has published two volumes of poetry Whispers Through Stone Windows and Return To Forever, Lost Boys, and Other Poems. His works explore themes such as grief, mental health, poverty, and spirituality in the context of the historical impact of racism and inequality on the black community.
Tony Medina is a poet, editor, writer, and author. Born in the South Bronx, he earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 23 books for adults and young readers. He has received many awards and has read/performed his work all over the US and abroad. The first Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appear in over 100 journals and anthologies. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.
Kim B Miller is the Poet Laureate of Prince William County, Virginia: October 2020-October 2022, the First African American Poet Laureate for PWC, VA. Kim was recently featured on Voice of America-VOA, and on WTOP, 103.5 FM. Her poems have been published in African Voices magazine, a Portuguese haiku anthology, an interfaith anthology and several websites and books. Her latest book of poetry is My Poetry Is The Beauty You Overlook. Kim received several local and national awards in 2021. For more info visit www.kimbmiller.com.
Tony Mitchelson is a poet/writer who was born in New York City. Raised in Harlem, he presently resides in Newark, New Jersey. He is the author of a book of poems: Linyak Love. His writings have appeared in various publications over the past 40 years. Tony is co-founder of The Linyak Project - an Arts, Culture and Education organization aimed at highlighting, motivating, and encouraging people.
Natasha Muluswela is a Zimbabwean-born artist living in the United Kingdom. Her work focuses on different cultures and people, primarily Black culture; as well as challenging the perception of beauty and the diversity of the female body. To understand how perceptions of beauty work in society, she concentrates on the varying perception of what it means to be different as a Black woman. You can view her portfolio at: www.artxnatasha.com
Christian Myrick was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Morehouse College in May of 2018 cum laude. His work has also appeared in Morehouse College Catalyst and in October of 2016, he was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta International Honor Society. Being a member of Sigma Tau Delta provided him with the opportunity to present two of his unpublished works of fiction, "The Flood" and "the Tale of the Pagan Preacher" at their 2017 and 2018 International Convention. Currently, he serves as a writing tutor in the Writing Center at Morehouse College.
David Nwafor, a graduate of Linguistics from Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is a software developer, short story writer, novelist, and poet. He is the author of the novel Wiped Tears, which was published by Omega Press in 2014. His short story Mmesoma made AE-FUNAI anthology. His poems have been published in anthologies and online publications such as Poemify Magazine, Poet Duet Publication, Margins Magazine, as well as the Poetry Planet International Book Anthology. Others are forthcoming.
Mwatabu S. Okantah is Associate Professor, Director of the Ghana Study Abroad Program and Interim Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Kent State University. Okantah is the author of seven books of poetry published from 1983 to 2019. A 2019 BMe Community Genius Fellow, he is also the recipient of the 2021 Great Lakes Black Authors Expo, Alice Dunbar Nelson Literary Achievement Award. He has performed with the Iroko African Drum & Dance Society, with the Cavani String Quartet and with Vince Robinson and the Jazz Poets. For more info visit www.mkepoet1.com
Roger Parris -Playwright, actor, director, poet and arts educator. Awarded the 2010 Pioneer Audelco Award and appeared in the Academy Award documentary, Summer of Soul. Founder of the Zawadi Writers Ensemble and co-founder of the Potluck Poets. Recently directed and performed in We Write Truth, The Gospel and Often Times Swing, The Blues, a reading/Performance of original poetry and short stories. Presently writing, I Can Feel the Moon, a two-act play.
Imani Lillian Ross is a 4th year college student studying chemistry and mathematics at Howard University. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Snellville, Georgia, Ross is an avid reader and writer, primarily of dark poetry, fantasy, and science fiction. She spends her days attending classes, and her nights scrawling in ragged notebooks and consuming book after book. She is currently working on her first novel.
Michael Simanga, Ph.D. is an activist writer, multi-discipline artist, scholar, and educator. He is a scholar and educator in Africana Studies and his research interests include 20th century Black radical movements, Civil Rights, Black Power and Pan-Africanism, art, and culture as expressions of identity, resistance and transformation. He writes and lectures on Civil Rights/Black Power and Politics, African American and African Diaspora art, culture, politics and history, human rights, and justice. As an artist and cultural worker, he has produced more than 200 artistic projects and is the former Executive Director of the National Black Arts Festival.
Sequoia Simon is a 22-year-old graduating senior, double major in African-American Studies and English at Howard University from Atlanta, GA. She has a career interest in education and has been working with students, grades 5th through 8th, from D.C. and Chicago public schools during her time at Howard. Her plans after graduating from Howard University include pursuing a fellowship in education, exploring teaching opportunities abroad and domestic, and planning for graduate school.
Michelle R. Smith is a writer, educator, cultural facilitator, and native Clevelander. She is the author of the poetry collections Ariel in Black (2015) and The Vagina Analogues (2020). She has been published in poemmemoirstory, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, The Normal School, and The Gasconade Review. More information about her work can be found online at www.writermichellersmith.com.
SuAndi has enthralled audiences on all four continents and challenged perceptions of Black art and Culture at seminars and as a keynote conference speaker. Her one woman show “The Story of M” is taught on the “A” level curriculum and the MA in Black British Literature at Goldsmith’s. This Manchester born writer’s work has appeared in twenty-two anthologies and 8 children’s publications in addition to her 3 collections; ‘Style’, ‘Nearly Forty’ & ‘There Will Be No Tears’. Recognized for the diversity of her work, she has received numerous awards including the O.B.E. two honorary degrees and is a Writing Fellow at Leicester University.
Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet privileged to have read at the Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium. He is Artistic Director of the stalwart Jazz Poetry Ensemble UpSurge and has appeared at numerous festivals and venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival and Panafest in Ghana West Africa. He currently is Poet-in-Residence at Black Agenda Report. He is Co-Chair of the NY Chapter National Writers Union (NWU). Read other articles by Raymond Nat or visit Raymond Nat's website.
Monica Lee Weatherly is a poet, writer and Professor of English at Georgia State University’s, Perimeter College. She is the winner of the Willie Morris Prize for Southern Poetry. Weatherly has had poetry published in Tulane Review, Plainsongs Magazine, Nzuri, and Auburn Avenue, a biannual publication showcasing the intellectual and creative voices of people of color. She is a member of the Georgia Writers Association and is listed in the Georgia Writers Registry. Her writing often focuses on the culture and experiences of women of the African Diaspora in the Americas.
Lo Williams is a poet, actor, and director. She has been an artist for many years, and is inspired by actors, scientists, musicians, and all other expressive people for her creativity. She has released one chapbook in December of 2021 and is thrilled and excited to be on her way to releasing a second. Williams is expected to graduate in May of 2022 from Howard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and plans to continue writing poetry.
Olumide Ted Wilson born and raised in Harlem is a writer, producer, promoter, and publisher of two books of poetry, Slo Dance and Senses and Shadows and a memoir, Kinda Blue, Memories of a Harlem Ivy League Teenager. He published Let Loose on the World, Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75 with associate publisher, SE Anderson. He has been a cultural worker since the 1960s in the Black Liberation/human rights movement His writings have appeared in many journals including The Black Nation and several anthologies including Black Fire, Anthology of Afro American Writing ed L. Jones and L. Neal.
Kenneth Zakee was born in Cleveland, Ohio and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an artist of many disciplines. As a spoken word artist, he has shared his work extensively. He paints and adorns gourds from West Africa and makes collages, wearable art, and handcrafted greeting cards. One of his collage/quilts was on display at the Southwest Art Center in the Good Trouble Quilt Exhibit Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Congressman John Lewis as part of the Atlanta Quilt Festival. Zakee can be reached at his studio at the Arts Xchange or on Facebook.
*Visual artists biographies are listed under artist's work.
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