Sharan Strange (born 1959) is an African-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, activist, and professor.

Life

She grew up in

Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Burg'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2020 United Stat ...

. She was educated at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, and received an MFA in Poetry from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

. She served as a contributing and advisory editor of ''

Callaloo Callaloo ( , ; many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux, or callalloo) is a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries, while for other Caribbean countries, a stew made with the plant is called call ...

'', and co-founder of the

Dark Room Collective The Dark Room Collective was an influential African-American poetry collective. Established in 1988, the collective hosted a reading series that featured leading figures in Black literature. Founding and activities After attending the funeral of ...

(1988-1998) and co-curator of the Dark Room Reading Series. The Dark Room Collective had a mission of forming a community of new African-American writers. Strange has said: "It was the sustaining practice of writing in community just as much as the activism of building a community-based reading series for writers of color that kept us engaged in collectivity." Strange has been a writer-in-residence at

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

, Wheaton College, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the

University of California at Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institution was ...

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

, and

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

. She currently teaches writing at Spelman College. Her work has appeared in journals such as ''Callaloo'', ''The American Poetry Review'', ''Painted Bride Quarterly'', ''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'', ''Agenda'', ''AGNI'', ''Mosaic'', and ''L-I-N-K-E-D'', and in numerous anthologies.

Awards

*1998 D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Award * 2000

Barnard Women Poets Prize The Barnard Women Poets Prize is a literary award in the United States for an English language book of poetry. From 1986 to 2001, the prize was a first-book award called the Barnard New Women Poets Prize. Winners had their poetry book published unde ...

, for ''Ash'', selected by Sonia Sanchez * 2004

Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award was an award given annually to beginning women writers. Established in 1995 by American author Rona Jaffe, the Foundation offers grants to writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The award wa ...

* 2009 Pushcart Prize nomination

Works

*
"In Praise of the Young and Black"; "Their Voices Drawing Her", ''L-I-N-K-E-D:The Online Journal''

"Unforgettable", ''Poet's Moment'', NPR

*

Anthologies

Including: * * * * *

References

External links

Strange reads "Unforgettable"
on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(May 20, 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Strange, Sharan 1959 births Living people Harvard College alumni Sarah Lawrence College alumni American women poets Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers People from Orangeburg, South Carolina Poets from South Carolina 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers African-American women poets African-American poets