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Nikki Giovanni says of Kwame Alexander, “He truly is a
renaissance man.”
Kwame Alexander (www.kwamealexander.com)
is a poet, publisher, and an award-winning producer of literary programs. Dubbed
a "phenom" in the poetry world by The Charleston (SC) City Paper, Alexander has
written for television the stage, and authored ten books including the
best-selling Do The Write Thing: 7 Steps to Publishing Success, Dancing Naked on
the Floor: poems and essays, Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur, and
most recently a young adult title, Crush: Love Poems. He speaks, and conducts
writing/publishing workshops at schools and conferences throughout the country.
He is the producer of several book festivals, including the
Capital
BookFest, Presented by The Washington Post. The Kwame Alexander Papers, a
collection of his writings, correspondence, and other professional and personal
documents is held at the George Washington University Gelman Library. The
founder/president of
BlackWords Press (1995-2005), Alexander resides in the Washington, DC area,
where he serves as the President of
Book-in-a-Day,
a literacy non-profit organization that teaches and inspires youth in the
writing and publishing process.
Book-in-a-Day (BID) is a non-profit, educational services company that fosters
literacy skills through a groundbreaking writing and publishing workshop, which
focuses on the fundamentals of poetry and student-run publication—in one day.
The program is available for schools, recreation centers, libraries, and other
youth-related organizations.
“If I can have a literary son, I like to think it is
Kwame Alexander. Hard worker; truth seeker; soul sharer.”
—Nikki
Giovanni
"Every teacher has come to the media center today to rave,
absolutely RAVE about your poetry sessions and about you! We
have never seen the students relate so well and respond so
completely to anyone! You have inspired us. Truly, you were
a gift to our students and staff!!!"
—Kathy Allen, Librarian and Media Director, Oscar Smith High
School, Chesapeake, VA
"Scholars and staff alike found the first Book-in-a-Day
session so powerful and affirming. I would love to dialogue
about possibilities for next year or the summer."
—Thaly Germain, Assistant Principal, Maya Angelou Public
Charter School, Washington, DC
"What a gift it's been to have you with us at Stafford this
week! Students and teachers alike raved about your
presentations in the auditorium. A number of teachers told
me how much they appreciated the fact that your
presentations seemed to be tailored to each audience. Kwame,
you have a unique ability to connect with students from so
many backgrounds. The students who attended your writing
workshops came away with a new energy and enthusiasm for
poetry.”
—Kate Messner, English Department Chair, Stafford Middle
School, Plattsburg, NY
 And
Then You Know: New & Selected Poems (Includes
CD)
Click to order via
Amazon
Hardcover: 140 pages
Publisher: Word of Mouth Books
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1888018577
ISBN-13: 978-1888018578
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Publication: May1, 2009
With the release of his 13th book, And Then
You Know: New & Selected Poems, Alexander is
being true to her words. A former student of
Giovanni at Virginia Tech, he has been writing
and editing books since 1995, while at the same
time building a career as a “literary
entrepreneur.” “I decided very early in my
writing career, that I wasn’t going to be a
starving artist. My father was a Baptist
Minister, a Publisher, a college professor; he
had a PhD from Columbia, and a Cosmetology
license. I used to wonder ‘why the
cosmetology license? Now I know, in order to
make a living as a writer, as an artist, you
have to multi-task. You have to excel in
different areas,” says Alexander.
In 2005, Alexander founded the Capital
BookFest, and quickly sold the Washington Post
on becoming the Presenting Sponsor. This year,
the festival, which attracts more than 5000
attendees, will celebrate its fifth year. One
year later, after over a decade of poetry and
literacy work in high schools, Alexander founded
Book-in-a-Day, a non-profit program that teaches
high school students how to write poetry, and
publish a book—in one day. “Every teacher has
come to the media center today to rave,
absolutely RAVE about your poetry sessions and
about you! We have never seen the students
relate so well and respond so completely to
anyone! You have inspired us. Truly, you were a
gift to our students and staff,” said Kathy
Allen, Librarian and Media Director, Oscar Smith
High School, (Chesapeake, VA), after one of
Kwame’s workshops. The program is currently
being delivered in schools in Virginia, New
York, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
So, with all of this work—not to mention that
he gives speeches regularly, writes plays, and
is a
devoted father and husband—when does he find
time to write poetry. “Poetry is the fuel. It’s
the
force that drives me to produce. It’s also what
keeps me grounded, and focused on the act of
living. And loving.” Truer words have never been
spoken. Whether he’s writing about his
daughter’s transition into womanhood (“10
Reasons Why Fathers Cry at Night), his wife’s
want for more poems to be written about her
(“Good Night”), or the inauguration of President
Barack Obama (“An American Poem”), the poems in
this new book are honest, authentic, funny,
tragic, and hopeful—and they make us feel good
too. As an extra bonus, a live CD of Kwame
performing his poems in Hollywood, with a band
of his friends, is included with the book. This
is a treasure from a true renaissance man. A
font of ideas. Hope with wings. Poems that fly.
And we are all better for it.
|
 Family
Pictures: Poems and Photographs Celebrating Our Loved
Ones, ed. (2007)
Click to order via
Amazon
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Capital BookFest Books (December 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1888018429
ISBN-13: 978-1888018424
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
Family Pictures, edited by
Kwame Alexander, is a celebration of the paradise of
family. The woes and wonders. This book includes over 70
poets, new and established, and 10 photographers, award
winning and emerging. Family Pictures aims to show the
variety and value of family love, especially the joys of
childhood...to remind us that no matter the time or
circumstance, whether peril or promise, family matters
and it always lasts."
CONTRIBUTORS Opal Palmer Adisa, Kwame Alexander,
Ashkari, Chrissy Banks, Roberta Beary, Alicia
Benjamin-Samuels, Sylvia Dianne Beverly, Joelle Biele,
Mawiyah Bomani, Nadir Lasana Bomani, Ann Reisfeld Boutte,
Kyndall Brown, Monique Brown, Leah Browning, Carol
Carpenter, Noni Carter, Grace Cavalieri, Ching-In Chen,
Lucille Clifton, Maritza Rivera Cohen, Christine Compo,
Christopher Conlon, Sarah Conover, Mathilda W. Cox,
Barbara Crooker, Alan Davis, Jeanette Drake, Paul
Laurence Dunbar, Natasha Ria El-Scari, Gretchen
Fletcher, Adele C. Geraghty, Nikki Giovanni, Judy Lee
Green, Jennifer Gresham, Joy Harold Helsing, Karla
Huston, Miccolo Johnson, Sandra Jones, Carolyn Joyner,
Jacqueline Jules, Melissa Morelli Lacroix, Pamela Lewis,
Diane Lockward, Dan Logan, Frederick Lord, Christina
Lovin, Sandra Cohen Margulius, Stepehen Mead, Tony
Medina, J.J. Michael, E. Ethelbert Miller, Deanna
Nikaido, Shin Yu Pai, Michelle J. Pinkard, Andrea Potos,
William Reichard, Regena "Sonray" Reighns, Susan Rich,
Jason Kelly Richards, Katy Richey, Charles P. Ries, Kim
Roberts, Alison C. Rollins, Matthue Roth, Carly Sachs,
Metta Sáma, Darlene Anita Scott, Derek Sheffield, Glen
Sorestad, Judith Strasser, Kathleen Sullivan, Lynn Tait,
Ijeama Thomas, Angela Boykin Turnbull, Davi Walders,
Phylis Warady, Christine West, Sandra L. West,
Mary-Sherman Willis, and Shana Yarborough. |
|
 Crush:
Love Poems (2007)
Click to order via
Amazon
Crush is a poetry memoir of love, for people young
and cool, and older folks too, who want to remember and
rejoice. From friendship to flirting, from the first
date to the break-up, this collection of passion poems
intertwines snapshots of innocent young adult angst with
a fiery language that defines the first love which none
of us ever outgrows. Crush is the first book of its
kind, love poems for the Young Adult market. And it s
destined to become a bestseller.
Love Poem #101
You said our relationship
Was sorta like school,
that I was failing your class,
And should study harder.
Well, maybe I need a better teacher. |
|
 The
Way I Walk: short stories and poems for Young Adults,
ed. (2006) |
|
 Dancing Naked on the Floor
Click to order via
Amazon
by Kwame Alexander
Publisher: BlackWords Press
Pub. Date: December 2003
Poet phenom Kwame Alexander grabs
his pen again to carve words into the emotional heart of
the human spirit. In his third book of poetry, Dancing
Naked On The Floor, Alexander intentionally and
successfully abandons all rules of conformity and runs
wild among the playfulness of words.
He uses new and ancient writing to explore love, life,
and truth within oneself. Sample titles from his book,
Why Alabama Has No Professional Sports Teams, Ten
Teasons Why Fathers Cry At Night, Spellbound, and Haiku
for
Maya Angelou just give you a taste of the intensity
that his book in packed with. In a separate "Extending
the Dance" essay section, he divulges his no doubt
controversial thoughts on bad writing, and his hotly
debated views regarding poets and spoken word artists.
Dancing Naked On The Floor uses deft wit and wide-eyed
focus to bridge the gap between passion and politics;
family and freedom. Alexander takes the "soul" of words
and uses them to relinquish the hidden emotions we all
have buried under years of memories. |
|
 Do The Write Thing: Seven Steps to Publishing Success
Click to order via Amazon
by Kwame Alexander,
Nina Foxx
Format: Hardcover, 160pp.
ISBN: 0967895960
Publisher: Manisy Willows Books
Pub. Date: July 2001
Publisher Weekly says; "For
writers determined to publish their own work, Kwame Alexander, with the help of
Nina Foxx, offers Do the Write Thing: 7 Steps to Publishing Success. Alexander,
a writer, publishing consultant and founder of the independent press BlackWords,
advises readers in a friendly and practical manner on everything from writing
and editing your manuscript, starting a publishing company and printing your
book to marketing, sales and author tours. Besides furnishing a lexicon of
publishing terms, a list of helpful reading materials, inspirational and
cautionary anecdotes and savvy regarding hiring editors of all sorts, Alexander
endows writers with the confidence they need to self-publish."
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|
  Kupenda:
love poems
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 1888018232
Format: Paperback, 64pp
Pub. Date: January 2002
Book Description
Alexander's first collection of verse since 1995 embraces and examines the peaks
and lows of friendship, intimate love, family love, marriage, self-love and
community spirit. A former student of Nikki Giovanni, he writes with a clever
wit and loving eye. This collection of love poems wil surely be enjoyed whether
you are at home curling up on the couch, or in a club grooving. There is
something for us all to think about. To Laugh about. To be happy about.
|
|
 Just
Us: Poems & Counter Poems, 1986-1995
Click to order via Amazon
ISBN: 1888018003
Format: Paperback, 112pp
Pub. Date: September 1995
Publisher: BlackWords Press
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| Other titles by Mr. Alexander:
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And Then You Know: New & Selected Poems (2009) |
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An American Poem: On the Occasion of the
Inauguration of
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the
United States (2009) |
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The Way I Walk: short stories and poems for
Young Adults (I found cover on your website) |
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The Flow: New Black Poets in Motion, ed. (1994) |
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| Related Links
 Kwame
Alexander Official Website
http://www.kwamealexander.com
Hear Kwame's Introduction to the Jazz Poetry Kafe: The
BlackWords Compilation Album
http://aalbc.com/authors/jazz.htm
BlackWords Home Page
http://www.blackwordsonline.com/
BlackWords on the AALBC.com
http://aalbc.com/writers/BlackWords.htm
360° A Revolution of Black Poets - Poetry Event
http://aalbc.com/events/poetry.htm
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