Wanda Coleman

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Wanda Coleman (birth name, Wanda Evans; November 13, 1946 – November 22, 2013) was an American poet.[1][2] She was known as "the L.A. Blueswoman," and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles."[3]

Biography

Coleman was born Wanda Evans, and grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1960s. She received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry). She was the first C.O.L.A. literary fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her honors included 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"). She was a finalist for California poet laureate (2005).[citation needed]

Controversy

While critically acclaimed for her creative writing, Coleman's greatest notoriety came as a result of an unfavorable review she wrote in the April 14, 2002 edition of The Los Angeles Times Book Review of Maya Angelou's book, A Song Flung Up to Heaven. Coleman found the book to be "small and inauthentic, without ideas wisdom or vision". Coleman's review provoked positive and negative responses, including the rescinding of invitations and cancelled events. Her account of this incident appears in the September 16, 2002 edition of The Nation.[4] She wrote:

"In our post-9/11 America, where unwarranted suspicions and the fear of terrorism threaten to overwhelm long-coveted individual freedoms, a book review seems rather insignificant--until the twin specters of censorship and oppression are raised. What has made our nation great, despite its tortuous history steeped in slavery, are those who have persisted in honoring those freedoms, starting with the Constitution and its amendments. It is this striving toward making those freedoms available to every citizen, regardless of race, creed, color, gender or origin, that makes the rest of the insanity tolerable. It is what allows me to voice my opinion, be it praise song or dissent, no matter who disagrees.".[5]

Works

Further reading

  • "Revising Western Criticism Through Wanda Coleman," essay by Krista Comer; Western American Quarterly Journal of the Western Literature Association, Vol. XXXIII, No. 4., Utah State University, Dept. of English, Logan UT, Winter 1999.
  • "Literature and Race in Ls Angeles," by Julian Murphet, Cambride University Press, 2001.
  • AMERICAN WRITERS: A Collection of Literary Biographies, Jay Parini, Editor, article by Tony Magistrale, 2002.
  • "City of Poems: The Lyric Voice in Los Angeles Since 1990," by Laurence Goldstein, from THE MISREAD CITY: New Literary Los Angeles, Dana Gioia and Scott Timberg, Editors, Red Hen Press, 2003.
  • "What Saves Us" interview of Coleman by Priscilla Ann Brown, Callaloo Vol. 26, No.3, Dept. of English, Texas A & M University, 2003.
  • "Wanda Coleman" biographical essay, A-Z of African American Writers, Philip Bader, Editor, Facts-on-File, NY, 2004.
  • "Wanda Coleman," cover and interview by Jeff Jansen, Chiron Review, Issue 79, Summer 2005.
  • "Wanda Coleman," featured poet in Quercus Review #6, Sam Pierstorff, Editor, Dept. of English, Modesto Junior College, California, 2006.

References

  1. ↑ Academy of American Poets
  2. ↑ Wanda Coleman's Book Club
  3. ↑ "LA’s Unofficial Poet Laureate Dies At 67". CBS Los Angeles. 1946-11-13. Retrieved 2013-11-25. 
  4. ↑ http://www.thenation.com/article/book-reviewing-african-american-style#
  5. ↑ Wanda Coleman, The Nation. September 16, 2002

External links

Authority control
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