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Third World Press
Third World Press (TWP) is the largest independent black-owned press in the United States, founded in 1967 by Haki R. Madhubuti (then known as Don L. Lee), with early support from Johari Amini and Carolyn Rodgers. Since the 1960s, the company has focused on publishing culturally progressive and political books of fiction and non-fiction, poetry, and cross-genre work. History Madhubuti recalled a pivotal encounter that led him to publishing. In 1960, as a teenager traveling to sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door, he visited a home in Springfield, Illinois. The door was opened by "a very sophisticated African-American man" who invited him in, fed him, and offered him advice. "He said, 'Young man, the one thing no one can take away from you is an education,'" as Madhubuti recalled. The man encouraged him to enroll in college and gave him $20, about $160 today. Afterwards, Madhubuti said he returned to Chicago "determined to build something of his own". In Chicago, he became a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haki R
Haki, Hake (Old Norse: ) or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in the 12th century ''Gesta Danorum'', and in 13th-century sources including ''Ynglinga saga'', ''Nafnaþulur'', and the ''Völsunga saga''. If historical, he would have lived in the 5th century. ''Ynglinga saga'' Snorri Sturluson wrote in the ''Ynglinga saga'' that Haki had amassed a great force of warriors and sometimes plundered together with his brother Hagbard (who himself was the hero of one of the most popular legends of ancient Scandinavia, see Hagbard and Signy). When Haki considered that he had amassed enough wealth and followers to make himself the king of Sweden, he proceeded with his army against the Swedish royal seat at Uppsala. Haki was a brutal warrior and he had twelve champions, among whom was the legendary warrior Starkad the Old. The Swedish king Hugleik had also gathered a large army and was supported by the two champions Svipda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulitzer Prize For Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published during the preceding calendar year. Finalists have been announced since 1980, ordinarily two others beside the winner. 1918 and 1919 special prizes Before the establishment of the award, the 1918 and 1919 Pulitzer cycles included three Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards (called at the time the Columbia University Poetry Prize) for poetry books funded by "a special grant from The Poetry Society." See Special Pulitzers for Letters. * 1918: ''Love Songs'' by Sara Teasdale * 1919: ''Cornhuskers'' by Carl Sandburg * 1919: ''The Old Road to Paradise'' by Margaret Widdemer Winners In its first 92 years to 2013, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was awarded 92 times. Two were given in 2008, none in 1946. Robert Frost won the pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson (musician), Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul music, soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".Onstage at the Black Wax Club in Washington, D.C. in 1982, Scott-Heron cited Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes, Sterling Allen Brown, Sterling Brown, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay as among those who had "taken the blues as a poetry form" in the 1920s and "fine-tuned it" into a "remarkable art form".Gil Scott-Heron in a live performance in 1982 wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria Naylor
Gloria Naylor (January 25, 1950 – September 28, 2016) was an American novelist, known for novels including ''The Women of Brewster Place'' (1982)'', Linden Hills'' (1985) and '' Mama Day'' (1988)''.'' Early life and education Naylor was born in New York on January 25, 1950, the oldest child of Roosevelt Naylor and Alberta McAlpin. The Naylors, who had been sharecroppers in Robinsonville, Mississippi, had migrated to Harlem to escape life in the segregated South and seek new opportunities in New York City. Her father became a transit worker; her mother, a telephone operator. Even though Naylor's mother had little education, she loved to read, and encouraged her daughter to read and keep a journal.Decker, Ed, and Jennifer York"Naylor, Gloria 1950–."''Contemporary Black Biography''. 2004. Before her teen years, Gloria began writing prodigiously, filling many notebooks with observations, poems, and short stories. In 1963, Naylor's family moved to Queens and her mother joined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalamu Ya Salaam
Kalamu ya Salaam (born March 24, 1947) is an American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher from the 9th Ward of New Orleans. A well-known activist and social critic, Salaam has spoken out on a number of racial and human rights issues. For years he did radio shows on WWOZ. Salaam is the co-founder of the NOMMO Literary Society, a weekly workshop for Black writers. Background Born Vallery Ferdinand III in New Orleans, Louisiana, he graduated from high school in 1964, joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea."Kalamu ya Salaam" The History Makers, November 14, 2002. He attended (1964–69) and Delgado Junior College, where he earned an Associate Arts degree in busin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ebony (magazine)
''Ebony'' is a monthly magazine that focuses on news, culture, and entertainment. Its target audience is the African-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, fashion, beauty, and politics. ''Ebony'' magazine was founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, for his Johnson Publishing Company. He sought to address African-American issues, personalities and interests in a positive and self-affirming manner. Its cover photography typically showcases prominent African-American public figures, including entertainers and politicians, such as Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, U.S. First lady Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Tyrese Gibson, and Tyler Perry. Each year, ''Ebony'' selects the "100 Most Influential Blacks in America". After 71 years, in June 2016, Johnson Publishing sold both ''Ebony'' and ''Jet'', another Johnson publication, to a priva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mari Evans
Mari Evans (July 16, 1919 – March 10, 2017) was an African-American poet, writer, and dramatist associated with the Black Arts Movement. Evans received grants and awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. Her poetry is known for its lyrical simplicity and the directness of its themes. She also wrote nonfiction and edited ''Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation'' ( Doubleday, 1984), an important and timely critical anthology devoted to the work of fifteen writers. Evans died at the age of ninety-seven in Indianapolis, Indiana.Several sources reported at the time of Evans's death that she was ninety-three years old; however, her nephew, Chris Phemster, who spoke at her funeral said this was incorrect, she was actually ninety-seven; her birth year was 1919, not 1923. See: Among those who incorrectly reported her age at the time of her death: Early life and education Evans was born in Toledo, Ohio, on July 16 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keorapetse Kgositsile
Keorapetse William Kgositsile (19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018), also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006. Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Kgositsile was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and black poetry in the United States. Early life Kgositsile was born in a mostly white section of Johannesburg, and grew up in a small shack at the back o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naomi Long Madgett
Naomi Long Madgett (July 5, 1923 – November 5, 2020) was an American poet and publisher. Originally a teacher, she later found fame with her award-winning poems and was also the founder and senior editor of Lotus Press, established in 1972, a publisher of poetry books by black poets. Known as "the godmother of African-American poetry", she was the Detroit poet laureate since 2001. Life and work Madgett was born as Naomi Cornelia Long in Norfolk, Virginia, in July 1923. She was the only daughter and the youngest of the three children of Baptist minister Rev. Dr. Clarence Marcellus Long and Maude Selena Long (''née'' Hilton). Naomi was 18 months old when the family moved to East Orange, New Jersey, where her father was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. She began writing at an early age, having her first published poem published in the ''Orange Daily Courier'' when she was 13 years old. While living in New Jersey, she went to an integrated school, where she faced racism as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Greenlee
Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr. (July 13, 1930 – May 19, 2014)Margaret Busby"Sam Greenlee obituary" ''The Guardian'', June 2, 2014. was an American writer of fiction and poetry. He is best known for his novel ''The Spook Who Sat By The Door (novel), The Spook Who Sat by the Door'', first published in London by Allison & Busby in March 1969 (having been rejected by dozens of mainstream publishers), and went on to be chosen as ''The Sunday Times'' Book of the Year. The novel was subsequently made into the 1973 The Spook Who Sat by the Door (film), movie of the same name, directed by Ivan Dixon and co-produced and written by Greenlee, that is now considered a "cult classic". Life and work Early years and education Sam Greenlee was born in St. Luke's Hospital (Chicago, Illinois), St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, to an African-American family. His parents were singer and dancer Desoree Alexander and railroad man and union activist Samuel Greenlee. He grew up in west Woodlawn, Chica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Walker
Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. Her notable works include ''For My People'' (1942) which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition, and the novel '' Jubilee'' (1966), set in the South during the American Civil War. Biography Walker was born in Birmingham, Alabama, to Sigismund C. Walker, a minister, and Marion (née Dozier) Walker, who helped their daughter by teaching her philosophy and poetry as a child. Her family moved to New Orleans when Walker was a young girl. At the age of 15, she showed a few of her poems to Langston Hughes, on a speaking tour at the moment, who recognized her talent. She attended school there, including several years of college, before she moved north to Chicago. In 1935, Walker received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities, including the University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University. He received the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in 2008 for ''Tales of the Out and the Gone''. Baraka's plays, poetry, and essays have been described by scholars as constituting defining texts for African-American culture. Baraka's career spanned nearly 52 years, and his themes range from black liberation to white racism. His notable poems include "The Music: Reflection on Jazz and Blues", "The Book of Monk", and "New Music, New Poetry", works that draw on topics from the worlds of society, music, and literature. Baraka's poetry and writing have attracted both high praise and condemnation. In the African-American community, some co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
