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Bios
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devorah major is currently Poet Laureate of San Francisco, in addition to being a poet she is a performer, lecturer, fiction and creative non-fiction writer, and editor. A trained actress and former dancer, she approaches poetry as both a written and performing art. She is the recipient of a 2002 California Arts Council Spoken Word Literary Arts Fellowship. In September of 1995 her first novel, An Open Weave, awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, was released by Seal Press. In March of 1996. Curbstone Press released her first solo book of poetry, street smarts, awarded the PEN Oakland 1996 Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. Ms. Major's poems and short stories, and essays have been published in a number of anthologies, magazines, and journals. She has edited and written introductions for six student poetry anthologies produced by the Fine Arts Museums Poets in the Galleries program. In 2004 Ms major was given a commission by the Oakland East Bay Symphony to collaborate with composer Guillermo Galindo to create a symphony with spoken word and chorus, Trade Routes, that will be premiered in 2005. devorah major has performed solo, with jazz musicians, and as a part of Daughters of Yam with Opal Palmer Adisa. In 2003 devorah major returned to Italy to be part of an international poetry festival, Il cammino delle comete / the way of the comets In 2002 she performed at the Dodge Poetry Festival, Litquake, the Webbies International Award ceremony, and the University of Connecticut. Last year her performances included an International Poetry Festival in Naples, Italy. She was part of the YMCA’s Writer’s Voice series, and a featured performer at University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1999 she was featured in San Diego’s Border Voices Poetry Festival and a part of the performance festival Afro Solo VI.ms. major continues to perform her work in clubs, theaters, and cultural centers. She is currently poet-in-residence at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums and works with San Francisco Jazz Festivals “In the Middle” jazz and performance poetry workshop program for middle school youth. She also intermittently teaches at the California College of the Arts. To read interviews with devorah major http://www.tparty.org http://www.sanfranciscoreader.com |
OPAL PALMER ADISA is a literary critic, poet, prose writer, storyteller and artist. Her published works are: Caribbean Passion, poetry, PeepalTree Press, 2004; The Tongue Is a Drum (poetry/jazz CD with Devorah Major) 2002; Leaf-of-Life, poetry, Jukebox Press, 2000; It Begins With Tears, novel, Heinemann, 1997; Tamarind and Mango Women, poetry, 1992, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award WINNER; traveling women, 1989; Bake-Face and Other Guava Stories, 1986 and Pina, The Many-Eyed Fruit, children’s book, 1985; Fierce/Love(poetry/jazz recording with Devorah Major), 1992. AWARDS/HONORS: Canute A. Brodhurst Priz Creative Artist Fellowship in Storytelling, Cultural Funding Program, City of Oakland, 2002-2003. Nominated to be Poet Laureate for the State of California, 2002 3-Year-Multicultural Program Grant, for Daughters of Yam, performance group with devorah major, California Arts Council, July 2001-2005, Writer in Resident, Wadastick Artists & Scholars, Laurel Hill, NC., March 2001. Writer-in-resident, Tryon Center for the Visual Arts, Charlotte, N.C., September –December 2000 Distinguished Writer, Middle Atlantic Writers Association, October 1998. Creative Work Fund Grant for “West Oakland Senior Citizen Oral History Project,” San Francisco, Ca., March 1998- October 1999. Nominated International Woman of the Year, 1996-97, International Biography Center, England. Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for story, "The Brethren," in The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, St Croix, April 1996. Writer-in-Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausaulito, CA., February - December 1996. Caribbean Writer Summer Institute Recipient, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fl. Summer 1995. Daily News Prize for best poems in The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, St Croix, March 1995. Master Folk Artist for Storytelling, California Arts Council, 1991-1992. Distinguished Bay Area Woman Writer Award/California Legislative Assembly Certificate of Recognition presented by the National Women's Political Caucus, 1991. ADISA'S essays, articles and reviews have been published in: Winds Of Change. Eds. Adele S. Newson & Linda Strong-Leek, 1998. Sing the Sun Up: Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature. Ed. Lorenzo Thoma, 1988. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Eds. William Andrews, et al. 1997. In The Caribbean Writer, Volume 11, 1997. In Father Songs, Ed. Gloria Wade-Gayless, 1997. Teachers & Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass. Ed. Wesley Brown., 1996. In Moving Beyond Boundaries: International Dimensions of Black Women's Writing. Eds. Carole Boyce Davies & Molara Ogundipe-Leslie,1995. SAGE. Explorations in Sights and Sounds; Black Scholar; African American Review; MELUS; The Women Review of Books; Black Quarterly Review and The San Francisco Review; Black Elegance & Belle. ADISA's poetry has appeared in numerous journals in the USA, London, Canada and Jamaica, including the following books: New to North America: Writing by U.S. Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren. Ed. Abby Bogomolny, 1997. The Garden Thrives: Twentieth Century African American Poetry. Ed. Clarence Major, 1996. This Far Together: Haight Ashbury Literary Journal Anthology, 1980-1995. Eds. Joanne Hotchkiss,1996.. A Bite to Eat Place. Eds. Andrea Adolph, Donald L. Vallis & Anne F. Walker, 1995. I Hear A Symphony. Eds. Paula Woods & Frank Liddell, 1994. Sister Fire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry, Ed. Charlotte Watson Sherman, 1994. Caribbean Dozen. Eds. John Agard and Grace Nichols, 1994. Adam of Ife: Black Women in Praise of Black men, Ed. Naomi Long Madgett,1992. Erotique Noire: Black Erotica, Ed. Miriam Decosta-Willis, et al,1992. Making Face, Making Soul. Ed. Gloria Anzaldua,1990. Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women's Poetry. Ed. Ramabai Espinet, 1991. Voice Print, Ed. Stewart Brown, Mervyn Morris & Gordon Rohlehr, 1989. Caribbean Poetry Now, Ed. Steward Brown, 1984. Perspective on a Grafted Tree, Ed. Patricia Irwin Johnston ,1983. Caribbean Woman, Ed. Lucille Mathurin-Mair, 1977. ADISA's prose and essays have been anthologized in: Daughters of Africa, Ed. Margaret Busby ,1992. Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam, Eds. Carmen C. Esteves and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, 1991. The Black Women's Health Book: Speaking for Ourselves, Ed. Evelyn C. Whites, 1990. Caribbean Women Writers. Ed. Selwyn Cudjoe, 1990. Caribbean New Wave: Contemporary Short Stories, Ed. Stewart Brown, 1990. Also in the following journals: ZYZZYVA; Obsidian II; Short Fiction By Women. Her erotic poems and stories have been included in the following anthologies: Erotique Noire: Black Erotica; Eros; Drum Voices; and The Best Black Women Erotica II, 2003 OPAL PALMER ADISA is a professor at California College of Arts and Crafts. She has taught at Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, St Mary’s, Holy Names & San Francisco State University. Adisa has a Ph.D in Ethnic Studies Literature,a Child Development Program teaching credential and has taught from pre-school through the college level. She has written literature based pro-social curricula and has twenty years teaching experience. E-mail: Opalwrites@sbcglobal.net P.O. Box 10625 Oakland, CA. 94610 (510) 383-9883 Websites: www.opalwriters.com www.daughtersofyam.com www.sabrinawardharrison.com/meet/story.html |