Folks say specialists make all the money: I think I'm living proof that generalists have all the fun. I'm a poet, a scholar of the literature and culture of the South, an award-winning journalist, and a political figure (believe it or not, on Dec. 31, 2007, I conclude a term as vice mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia!). One of only 12 Southern writers to be invited to the Spoleto Festival USA’s 2000 forum on the Confederate flag, I've appeared in publications from the New York Times to the Chronicle of Higher Education to the Baton Rouge Advocate and been seen or heard on C-SPAN's Booknotes,  in interviews with Bob Edwards on NPR’s Morning Edition and with Chris Moore on the National Urban Radio Network's Bev Smith Show, and on the History Detectives on PBS.

Kendra with History Detectives host Gwen Wright after filming "Calhoun Books Controversy" at the Calhoun mansion, Fort Hill, in 2005.

My poetry and essays have appeared in Callaloo, The Southern Review, Shenandoah, River Styx, Obsidian III, and others as well as in the anthologies Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and the forthcoming Defining Moments: Reflections of 25 African American Women Writers. I am a Cave Canem and a Rockefeller Foundation/Bellagio fellow. I enjoy working with artists from other disciplines, e.g., on Water Table, a massive site-specific art installation at the 2004 Spoleto Festival USA.

Last year, I published my debut collection: The Goddess of Gumbo. This year, I'm on the final chapter of a work of serious scholarship: The Geography of Desire: Romancing Blackness on the Gullah/Geechee Coast. I'm also working more and more seriously on new poems. The working title is "Mirrours of the World"--it's a narrative sequence about sex (in the gender sense), lies, and shopping among the Robber Barons.

My subject is Belle Da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's librarian, the first director of the Morgan Library, and a world-renowned expert on illuminated manuscripts and incunabula. She was a woman who succeeded as few others have in the man's world of rare books and manuscripts. She was also a black woman passing for white.

So that's what's been going on in my head. Here's what's been happening...

 

 

 

A Reading for The RinGing Ear ...

Black Poets Lean South anthology was held at the College of William & Mary on March 11. Organized by my pal since Texas days, Hermine Pinson, a member of the English faculty, the reading was mad fun. Featuring Matilda Cox and Cave Canem alums Remica Bingham, Tim Seibles (Old Dominion University), Toni Wynn, and me, we had quite a reunion on that stage...

Above, Tim and Hermine. Below, from left, Remica, me, Tim, Toni, and Matilda.

And if you're a fan of Southern writing and haven't yet seen The Ringing Ear, you really should check it out.

 

"Literature, Culture, and Critique"...

held in New Orleans, March 5-7, was the title of a retreat organized by Callaloo and bringing together critics and creative writers from Joyce A. Joyce of Temple University to Fred D'Aguiar, the amazing triple-threat poet, playwright, novelist from Virginia Tech. There were conversations among critics and writers about their sometimes-conflicting practices, there were public lectures at Tulane University and of course there were readings. An amazing group of fiction writers -- Angie Cruz, Fred D'Aguiar, Mat Johnson, Emily Raboteau, and Nelly Rosario -- read at Tulane in the afternoon, and the poets -- Christian Campbell, Dawn Lundy Martin, Dagmawi Woubshet, and me -- got the primo slot at Snug Harbor later than evening.

Above, Christian Campbell and I chill at the bar before the reading. Below left was our "babelicious" hostess Salamishah Tillett from Penn, with Dawn Lundy Martin in the background.

 

"Words & Voices" @ the Zora! Festival

held in Eatonville, Florida, January 26 - February 3. This was my second year working with the folks at Zora!

 

Callaloo's 30th anniversary celebration...

Poets on Parade: Kendra with, from left, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (Black Swan), Crystal Williams (Lunatic), and National Book Award finalist Carl Phillips (Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems 1986-2006) at Callaloo's 30th Anniversary celebration in Baltimore.

 

 

held in Baltimore, Oct. 24-27, was a star-studded event drawing what seemed every star in the black literary firmament for three days of panel discussions, parties, and readings. I appeared on a panel on writing and publishing poetry with Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Crystal Williams, and Carl Phillips (above). But the true highlights were the readings, which featured new work and old favorites from Paule Marshall and Lucille Clifton on Thursday night; Carl Phillips, Natasha Trethewey, and Yusef Komunyakaa on Friday night; and John Edgar Wideman on Saturday night.

 

 

Charles Rowell, a mentor and friend to writers young and old for three decades, with Helen Elaine Lee (The Serpent's Gift) and O. Henry Prize winner Thomas Glave (Words to Our Now).

Sister Sonia Sanchez, pictured here with historian John Bracy, gave a rousing talk on forgotten poets of the Black Arts Movement.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, seated, signs books after reading from his new project, War Horses, while Major Jackson (Hoops, Leaving Saturn), standing at center, looks on.

 

 

Woman + Writer + Witness

Susan Garrett (memoir), Kendra Hamilton (poetry), Jenny Johnson (poetry)

I've always loved the notion of exploring generations in women's writing. Here's the blurb for a panel discussion/reading held Oct. 17 at the University of Virginia's Newcomb Hall Kaleidoscope Center: "Whether it's the closeness between grandmothers and granddaughters, the dance of anger and intimacy that is the mother-daughter bond, or the dynamic, complex, contradictory connections between friends or lovers, relationships between and among women can be the stuff of our highest joys and deepest hurts. In this panel discussion, three women writers of diverse backgrounds and different generations share thoughts and creative work exploring women's lives at three archetypal life stages to take the audience beyond media stereotypes and offer the hope of healing in life and in art." It was both reassuring and satisfying to see so many young women--in their twenties--turn out for this event. We talked about secrets and silences. We talked about how to break them without breaking. A powerful event.

 

 

Homecoming for The Goddess of Gumbo

The Poetry Society of South Carolina rolled out the red carpet for me and North Carolina poet, playwright, and fiber artist Cheryl Floyd-Miller at their monthly reading on Oct. 12. The crowd was standing room only at Charleston's 2nd Presbyterian Church Chapel (thanks, Mom, for getting the word out!), and longtime members of the society called the reading the most electric of its recent history. We had such a good time, I'm hoping to return to Charleston in January to open the Monday Night Blues series.

 

More road trips coming soon!