Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Acquires Archive of Poet Wanda Coleman
March 29, 2019 —The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library has acquired the archive of poet, essayist, and fiction writer Wanda Coleman. The recently uncovered archive—which was acquired and donated by poet and actress Amber Tamblyn, a friend of Coleman—includes scrapbooks of news clippings, research material, chapbooks, early drafts, press coverage of Coleman's early works, some correspondence, and notebooks. The archive will be available to the public for research with a New York Public Library card in early next year.
“Coleman’s archive offers a glimpse into the life and process of this gifted writer who has yet to receive the full recognition her work deserves,” said Schomburg Director Kevin Young “A powerhouse in her time, Coleman’s work resonates in ever greater measure, in forms as diverse as blues and sonnets, making a song and sense out of suffering.”
Born in 1946 and raised in Watts, Coleman lived in Los Angeles until her death in 2013. Known as the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles, Coleman came of age during the 1965 Watts riots that began following a traffic stop of a young Black man by a white highway patrolman. She was part of the Watts Writers Workshop that began in the aftermath of the Watts rebellion.
Coleman’s writing and readings were ferocious and politically astute, ranging between colloquial urbanisms to high culture. She is remembered for her award-winning work and literary activism, as much as she is for lighting a path for fellow writers, particularly with her groundbreaking “American Sonnets” series.
"Wanda Coleman was my writing mentor and friend. She taught me everything I know about sourcing female rage and intuition in writing. Her recently discovered work being archived at the Schomburg Center is a long awaited gift to womankind and a promise to our voices that we can and will live on, far past our bodies, cherished, forever heard," Tamblyn said.
Coleman was a central figure in Los Angeles literary life and acknowledged for her scholarship with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In early 2014 she was honored by her contemporaries in a Los Angeles event co-sponsored by the Poetry Society of America and Red Hen Press. Among the many speakers was Robin Coste Lewis, the Compton born poet, recently named Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. In her 2017 acceptance as Poet Laureate of L.A., Lewis noted Coleman’s influence, saying in part, “'L.A. Poet' for me means people like Wanda Coleman.” Lewis spoke passionately about what it meant to grow up in Compton knowing that another Black woman poet lived in nearby Watts, paying homage to the gentler side of Coleman’s work.
Best-selling author and poet Mary Karr called Coleman “unjustly overlooked,” and shared praise of the poet: “What symphonies Wanda Coleman plays in all her moving tunes.”
Coleman’s poetry collections include Mercurochrome: New Poems (2001), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry; Bathwater Wine (Black Sparrow Press, 1998), which received the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Native in a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors (1996); Hand Dance (1993); African Sleeping Sickness (1990); Heavy Daughter Blues: Poems & Stories 1968-1986 (1988); and Imagoes (1983). She also wrote the books Jazz and Twelve O’Clock Tales: New Stories (2008), Mambo Hips & Make Believe: A Novel (Black Sparrow Press, 1999), and A War of Eyes and Other Stories (1988).
Amber Tamblyn, Kevin Young, and other writers will pay tribute to Wanda Coleman on Saturday, March 30 at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs 2019 Conference and Book Fair in Portland, Oregon. The Academy of American Poets will feature Coleman in their upcoming fair.
About the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the preservation, research, interpretation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diasporan, and African experiences. As a research division of The New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center features diverse programming and collections totaling over 11 million items that illuminate the richness of global black history, arts, and culture. Learn more at schomburgcenter.org.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.
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