In early August the 8th Poet Laureate of San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin, and L.Á. native and co-founder of The World Stage, Kamau Daáood, graced the stage at the Anansi Writers Workshop with their verse and wisdom. Continue reading Black August at The World Stage
An interview between two veteran L.Á. mystery writers Naomi Hirahara and Gary Phillips. In Phillips new novel “One Shot Harry” he strives to keep L.Á. history at the forefront of the story. Continue reading Naomi Hirahara talks to LA crime writer Gary Phillips about the lost landmarks of Los Angeles
“Deon’s immortal, Lou, is unusual. She’s young, Black, somewhat naive, and utterly brilliant.” Continue reading Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews The Perishing by Natashia Deón
An interview with South Central poet and Professor bridgette bianca about what inspires her and what led her to the life of a poet and professor. Continue reading Meet Bridgette Bianca | Poet & Professor
Asha Grant was always a bookworm. As a little girl growing up in Inglewood, she spent hours poring over stories like Debbie Allen’s “Dancing in the Wings,” Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street” and Veronica Chambers’ “Marisol and Magdalena.” Her parents were delighted, but also frustrated by how challenging it was to find stories about young Black children.
Continue reading “She Dreamed of a Black-Owned Bookstore in Inglewood. Now, She’s Going to Run One”
By Vallarie Wallace
FROM: Electrict Literature
After several grueling hours of protesting against systemic injustice (no one can prepare you for long hours on your feet, long hours screaming for recognition of your humanity), we stood with our signs tucked safely under our arms as the organizer introduced some parting words. The speaker was an older Black man, the weariness of the movement evident in his face and in the way he leaned against a streetlamp for support. But his passion was clear in his speech as he declared that we were not the first to fight for our rights, and we will not be the last: he was protesting in the streets back in his early adulthood, the same way we were today. It was then that I looked at the faces of the people around me; some couldn’t be older than sixteen, and some as old as the speaker, or older. It was in the aftermath of being surrounded by these people, all aligned in our goal for the abolishment of the systemic injustices that cause Black oppression, that Nina Revoyr’s literary crime novel Southland came to mind.
Continue reading “The Novel That Shows Us How to Face Our Past to Change Our Future”
By Carolyn Neuhausen
FROM: The Argonaut
Loyola Marymount University writing instructor and rhetorical arts fellow Shonda Buchanan understands how abuse and self-hatred — the kind that ripples through families for generations — can set the tone for interpersonal relationships for decades, if not centuries.
Continue reading “LMU’S SHONDA BUCHANAN TELLS TRUER TALES OF AMERICAN HISTORY”
By Eisa Nefertari Ulen
FROM: LARB
Award-winning poet Shonda Buchanan honors multiple literary traditions in her breathtaking new memoir, Black Indian. An educator, freelance writer, and literary editor, Buchanan is a culture worker with deep, decades-long engagement in communities of color. Her work honors the complexity and diversity of these Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. At once Indigenous, Black Female, Speculative, Feminist, Womanist, Urban, Southern Gothic, and counter to the Tragic Mulatto stereotype in American literature, stage, and film, Black Indian is a quintessentially American narrative.
Continue reading “Locs in the Sweat Lodge: On Shonda Buchanan’s “Black Indian””
Los Angeles Literature 