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Quraysh Ali Lansana

Born: 1964 in Enid, Oklahoma
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Lansana lived in Chicago. He served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University from 2002-2011, where he was also Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing until 2014.

Biography: Quraysh Ali Lansana is a poet, author, editor and professor. His edited works include: The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience & Change Agent, w/Georgia A. Popoff (Haymarket Books, 2017); Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writings of Gwendolyn Brooks w/Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Curbside Splendor, 2017); and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop w/Kevin Coval and Nate Marshall (Haymarket Books, 2015).


Awards:
  • """The Skin of Dreams"""
  • -- Starred Review, Booklist, 2019
  • """Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy & Social Justice in Classroom & Community"""
  • -- Nominee, NAACP Image Award, 2012
  • """Other Awards"""
  • -- Securing the Future Award, ETA Creative Arts Foundation, 2006
  • -- Poet of the Year Award, Chicago's Black Book Fair, 2000
  • -- Henry Blakely Award, Gwendolyn Brooks, 1999
  • -- Wallace W. Douglas Distinguished Service Award, Young Chicago Authors, Inc., 1999

Primary Literary Genre(s): Poetry

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

E-Mail: qlansana@csu.edu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/qalilansana?lang=en
Website: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/quraysh-ali-lansana
Website: https://poets.org/poet/quraysh-ali-lansana


Selected Titles

A gift from Greensboro :
ISBN: 0997221917 OCLC: 952971601

A Gift from Greensboro is a celebration of the magic of childhood friendship and adventure, and a meditation on growing up in the wake of the sit-ins that ushered in the Civil Rights Movement. The poem recognizes that true friendship knows no boundaries, and this is the true gift from Greensboro--Adapted from flap of front cover.

City of the big shoulders :
ISBN: 9781609380908 OCLC: 756044631

University of Iowa Press, Iowa City : ©2012.

Chicago has served as touchstone and muse to generations of writers and artists defined by their relationship to the city's history, lore, inhabitants, landmarks, joys and sorrows, pride and shame. The poetic conversations inspired by Chicago have long been a vital part of America's literary landscape, from Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks to experimental writers and today's slam poets. The one hundred contributors to this vibrant collection take their materials and their inspirations from the city itself in a way that continues this energetic dialogue--Publisher.

Mystic turf :
ISBN: 9780985287757 OCLC: 826870689

Willow Books, Detroit, Mich. : ©2012.

Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy & Social Justice in Classroom & Community
ISBN: 0915924285 OCLC: 721413469

Teachers & Writers Collaborative New York : 2011

Southside rain /
ISBN: 0883782197 OCLC: 44153434

Third World Press, Chicago : ©1999.

The skin of dreams :
ISBN: 1733647406 OCLC: 1107321301

The Walmart republic :
ISBN: 9780990320401 OCLC: 891587315

They shall run :
ISBN: 0883782642 OCLC: 54960416

Third World Press, Chicago, IL : 2004.

 

 

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