| Wanda Coleman |
 Known for her take-no-prisoners readings, Wanda Coleman is a recent contributor to HARRIET (poetryfoundation.org) and drgodine.blogspot. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Zyzzyva, Obsidian and Best American Poetry. She has been featured in Writing Los Angeles (Library of America), Poet’s Market (2003), Quercus Review VI, The Los Angeles Review, the Burnside Review and online at MS. A seminal figure of L.A.’s poetry underground, she has shared the stage with such cultural icons as Timothy Leary, Alice Coltrane, Allen Ginsberg, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos and Richard (Louie Louie) Barry. Coleman has been an Emmy-winning scriptwriter, and columnist for Los Angeles Times magazine; a nominee for poet laureate of California, and for the USA artists fellowship. She has published 18 books of poetry and fiction which include Bathwater Wine, winner of the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize—the first African-American woman to receive the award -- and Mercurochrome (poems), bronze-medal finalist, National Book Awards 2001. Her honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA. Her most recent books include Ostinato Vamps (Pitt Poetry Series), The Riot Inside Me: Trials & Tremors (nonfiction, Godine/Black Sparrow), WANDA COLEMAN: Poems Seismic in Scene (de la chienne) - Mise en page et calligraphies/layout and illumination by Jean-Jacques Tachdjian, and Jazz & Twelve O’clock Tales—new stories. The World Falls Away, new poems, will appear in fall 2011 (Pitt Poetry Series). |
Featuring:
| Benson Athiin Deng |
 “Our village was attacked by our government when I was seven years old. We fled a thousand miles across Sudan to Ethiopia on foot. The traveling was always by night and I hated this very much because we were not allowed to sleep and when I stepped on unidentified things in the dark like thorns, twigs and sharp stones, my feet were sore all the time. But I was not the only one, about twenty-five boys my age shared the same hardships. This stopped me from any complaints or crying. I was not wearing any shirt or jacket, just only my underwear all the way to Ethiopia.”
Benson Athiin Deng began to learn English by writing the alphabet with a stick in the sand in Ethiopia. When he was driven from there, he and his brother, Alepho, were captured and put into a camp called Natinga. Alepho fell seriously ill and there were no medicines, clinics or anyone to care for him. Their lives were in danger and Benson’s friends wanted him to escape with them. Risking his own life, Benson stayed behind for his brother and nursed him until a few months later. Near death, Alepho was finally transported to a refugee camp for treatment. Benson later escaped and made a treacherous desert crossing that not everyone survived. When Benson reached safety in Kenya, he began his education again. Upon his arrival in America, Benson, with his brother, Alephonsian Deng, and cousin, Benjamin Ajak, wrote a book about their life in Africa called They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys From Sudan, which is edited by Judy Bernstein. |
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