Wanda Coleman

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Wanda Coleman (1946 - ) is an award-winning American poet. She is known as "the L.A. Blueswoman," and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles." She grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s.She has received fellowships from the John P. Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry), and was the first C.O.L.A. literary fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her many honors include an Emmy in Daytime Drama writing, The 1999 Lenore Marshall Prize (for "Bathwater Wine"), and a nomination for the 2001 National Book Awards (for "Mercurochrome"). Interviews of Ms. Coleman can be found in Quercus Review #6, 2006 www.quercusreview.com, by Priscilla Ann Brown in Callaloo Vol. 26 No. 3, and in Another Chicago Magazine #35. Critical articles in which Ms. Coleman is discussed include Laurence Goldstein's essay "City of Poems: The Lyric Voice in Los Angeles since 1990" (The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles, edited by Scott Timberg and Dana Gioia, Red Hen Press), and "Revising Western Criticism Through Wanda Coleman," essay by Krista Comer; Western American Literature Quarterly (Journal of The Western Literature Association, Vol. XXXIII No. 4, Utah State University, Department of English).

[edit] Quotes

Like Wallace Stegner, I am in the 'universal' tradition of writers who concern themselves with The Truth -- never mind that it is apt to hurt someone, in some way, most likely me. — From The Riot Inside Me: More Trials & Tremors

[edit] Works

The Riot Inside Me: More Trials & Tremors David R. Godine Publisher 2005

"Wanda Coleman--Greatest Hits: 1966-2003" Pudding House Publications. "Ostinato Vamps" Pitt Poetry Series, 2003-2004. "Mercurochrome" Black Sparrow 2001, National Book Awards finalist. "Mambo Hips and Make Believe: A Novel" Black Sparrow 1999. "Bathwater Wine" Black Sparrow 1998. "Native In a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors" Black Sparrow 1996. "American Sonnets" Woodland Pattern 1994. "Hand Dance" Black Sparrow 1993. "African Sleeping Sickness: Stories & Poems Black Sparrow 1990. "A War of Eyes and Other Stories" Black Sparrow 1988. "Heavy Daughter Blues: Poems & Stories 1968-1986" Black Sparrow 1987 "Imagoes" Black Sparrow 1983 "Mad Dog Black Lady" Black Sparrow 1979