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Black Women Writers at Work edited by Claudia Tate

I am happy to see that “Black Women Writers at Work” has now been republished by Haymarket Books.

The original publication – 1983

“Black women writers and critics are acting on the old adage that one must speak for oneself if one wishes to be heard.” —Claudia Tate, from the introduction

Long out of print, Black Women Writers at Work is a vital contribution to Black literature in the 20th century. 
Through candid interviews with Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alexis De Veaux, Nikki Giovanni, Kristin Hunter, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, and Sherley Anne Williams, the book highlights the practices and critical linkages between the work and lived experiences of Black women writers whose work laid the foundation for many who have come after.


Responding to questions about why and for whom they write, and how they perceive their responsibility to their work, to others, and to society, the featured playwrights, poets, novelists, and essayists provide a window into the connections between their lives and their art.

Finally available for a new generation, this classic work has an urgent message for readers and writers today.


Reviews
“When this classic collection was published in 1984, the writers Claudia Tate interviewed were engaged in the creative work that produced new Black feminist terrains. Today Black Women Writers at Work serves as a much-needed reminder that the imagination always blazes trails that lead us toward more habitable futures.”
—Angela Y. Davis, author of Freedom is a Constant Struggle

”This is a gorgeous and essential collection of writings from a group of the most important Black women writers. I have turned to repeatedly over the past thirty years and I’m thrilled that Haymarket has republished it for another generation to treasure.”
—Imani Perry, author of Looking for Lorraine

”[A] rare, rich source books for writers, readers, teachers, students—all who care about literature and the creation of it… This collection transcends its genre. It becomes a harbinger book, a book of revelation, of haunting challenge, opening on to central concerns not only of writing, but of life, of living, today.” 
—Tillie Olson, from the Foreword
“Tate’s probing, provocative and insightful questions set a new standard for the interview as a genre.”
—Valerie Smith, Princeton University

Black Queer Art Mentor Award

Dr De Veaux has been selected to receive this year’s Pamela Sneed award for Black Queer Art Mentorship Arts and Organizers through the Queer Arts project. The award ceremony took place at the Whitney Museum on 10th November, 2022.

The Pamela Sneed Award for Black Queer|Art| Mentorship Artists and Organizers is a $10K prize acknowledging Black Mentors and Fellows from the QAM community who uplift critical histories of Black queer mentorship and uphold guiding principles like intergenerational exchange, collective care, preservation of Black queer legacies.

Judges Justin Allen, Pamela Sneed, and Stephen Winter remark, “Alexis De Veaux is a pioneering force within the LGBTQIA community. Her expansive practice is wide-ranging: from poetry and journalism to children’s literature… As a writer, educator, and public speaker, Alexis’s longstanding dedication to mentorship is clear across fields and generations. To be in the presence of her generous wisdom and infectious spirit is to be inspired.”⁣Queer Arts

Writing New Worlds

Writing New Worlds a conversation between Alexis De Veaux, Walidah Imarisha and Alexis Pauline Gumbs on legacy, possibility, and the role of writers in making the future we deserve intriguing, imaginable and irresistible. This conversation was a plenary event at the Allied Media Conference, July 23rd to July 26th 2020.

“The conversation between countergenerational artists was an extraordinary defining moment during this time of global pandemics. I was deeply honored to share it with Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Walidah Imarisha”

Global Queer Read-In

Global Queer Read-In: June 2020

“On June 25th, 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri, actor Alfre Woodard, playwright Charles Busch, writer/poet Alexis De Veaux, singer/songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins join a list of over 30 LGBTQI writers, playwrights, activists and artists joined us on camera reading passages from their favorite and influential works of queer literature and poetry for the first marathon”