Today we’d like to introduce you to Shonda Buchanan.
Shonda, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I am an award-winning poet and educator born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a daughter of Mixed Bloods, tri-racial and tri-ethnic African American, American Indian and European-descendant families who migrated from North Carolina and Virginia in the mid-1700 to 1800s to Southwestern Michigan. My memoir, Black Indian, begins the saga of these migration stories of Free People of Color communities exploring identity, ethnicity, landscape and loss. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 18, trying to escape my ghosts, and attended Loyola Marymount University and eventually receiving an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. I freelance for the LA Weekly and other publications. I’m a community artist, a poet and writer who believes that language has the power to change the world.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m a community artist, a poet and writer who believes that language has the power to change the world. I’ve written two collections of poetry, one memoir and compiled two poetry anthologies towards this mission. I’m also an English professor and I’m always teaching my students, my audiences, when I lecture, that we are more powerful in our diversity and humanity than we know.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Well, we’re in a pandemic. That in and of itself is daunting enough. But the pandemic has made our societal disparity issues raise to the forefront in a significant way. Black people are dying at a 70% higher rate than anyone else. 1000 Mexican women were murdered in domestic disputes since the lockdown began. Women, POCs, children and the homeless are suffering in terrible ways. My role as a writer is figuring out a way to say this so that those who work in leadership roles, politicians and public servants who can funnel monies and help into these communities do this ASAP.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Indian-Made-Michigan-Writers/dp/0814345808. Buying my book and having me come speak at your school or organization is the best way to support me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shondabuchanan.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @shondabuchanan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shondabuchananauthor/
- Twitter: @shondabuchanan
- Other: www.shondabuchanan.com/writer
Image Credit:
The photographer is SONIEA.
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