Elizabeth Alexander is considered one of the country’s most gifted contemporary poets, and the publication of her essays in
The Black Interior
in 2004 established her as an astute critic and cultural commentator as well. Arnold Rampersad has called Alexander
one of the brightest stars in our literary sky…a superb, invaluable commentator on the American scene.
In this new collection of her essays, reviews, and essays, Alexander again focuses on African American artistic production, particularly poetry, and the cultural contexts in which it is created and experienced. The book’s first section,
Black Arts 101,
takes up the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sterling Brown, Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks and Rita Dove (among others); artist Romare Bearden, dancer Bill T. Jones, and dramatist August Wilson. A second section,
Black Feminist Thinking,
provides engaging meditations ranging from
Considering My Grandmother’s Hair
and
A Very Short History of Black Women and Food
to essays on the legacies of Toni Cade, Audre Lorde, and June Jordan. The collection’s final section,
Talking,
includes interviews, a commencement address
Black Graduation
and the essay
Africa and the World.