Nigerian writer Okey Ndibe on his relationship with mentor Chinua Achebe, his life, and his forthcoming memoir.
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In commemoration of Black History Month, Sampsonia Way recognizes the African-American authors who have contributed their transformative words to our pages, among them Chris Abani, Amiri Baraka, Toi Derricotte, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Nikki Giovanni, Angela Jackson, and Yusef Komunyakaa.
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On January 9, 2014Amiri Baraka, poet, playwright and activist, passed away at the age of 79. A leading figure of the Black Arts movement, today we remember Baraka by sharing an interview Sampsonia Way published in 2011, after he came to read with Cave Canem at City of Asylum/Pittsburgh.
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Ebullient and ever-interested in collaging and layering, in this interview the poet, novelist and playwright Chris Abani talks about his writing and editing processes, where he gets his ideas, why he’s never experienced writer’s block, and his many cross-discipline obsessions.
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In this edition of The Writer’s Block we speak with poet Nikky Finney, recipient of the National Book Award in Poetry. Finney is a faculty member of Cave Canem.
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Celebrated slam poet and educator Patricia Smith discusses what inspires her, exploring history through a poetic lens, and a poet’s role as an activist and a teacher.
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In this interview author and poet Thomas Sayers Ellis sat down with Pittsburgh-based poet Bonita Lee Penn to talk about his personal relationship with the oral tradition, the founding of the Dark Room Collective, and the future of language and motion.
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