Dream of a Word - by Quraysh Ali Lansana & Toni Asante Lightfoot (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Since 1989, Tia Chucha Press has been a leader in publishing artistically innovative and culturally provocative voices in poetry. The roster of poets the Press has brought to publication reflects a deep commitment to diversity and features established artists, such as Elizabeth Alexander, Virgil Suarez, and Diane Glancy, as well as first books by award-winning poets Terrance Hayes, A. Van Jordan, and Patricia Smith. Tia Chucha Press has had a powerful impact on the literary world as a very important first press for many poets and a respectable, high quality press for all. Dream of a Word is more than a book of poetry; it is a fifteen year archive of real American life, a testament of democracy in verse, from the gritty streets of East Los Angeles to lonely Indiana avenues. The work in this anthology explores the tough and the tender, the personal as political, with humor, passion, humanity, and grace. Dream of a Word includes study guides and writing exercises suitable for middle school, high school, and college-aged learners. Both thematic and craft issues are highlighted.

About the Author

Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of three poetry books, including They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (Third World Press, 2004) a children's book, and editor of five anthologies, including Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art (Third World Press, 2001). He is director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he is also an assistant professor of English and creative writing. Lansana serves as associate editor for poetry at Black Issues Book Review and earned an MFA in creative writing at New York University.