Artists' Fellowship - 2003
Poetry
Artist Statement:
Sheree Renée Thomas was born with twin tongues. One held the language she spoke in public, the other is What Spirit Took. Part elderstory and praisesong, black pot mojo and lore, these poems reflect her family’s roots in the Mississippi Delta, experiences that shaped their traditions and speech. "I learned very quickly which tongue was valued in the world, and yet I could not reject the voice that had nurtured me since birth. Today I write to reexamine this history, to rediscover the rich folk knowledge these tongues contain."
More about the Artist:
Sheree Renée Thomas is the editor of two anthologies, DARK MATTER: READING THE BONES (Warner, 2004) and the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, DARK MATTER: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (Warner, 2000) winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Gold Pen Award. She is also the publisher of Wanganegresse Press and founding editor of ANANSI: Fiction of the African Diaspora (Cetera Press, 1999). Her poetry and fiction appear in the anthologies MOJO: Conjure Stories (Warner, 2003), The 2003 Rhysling Award Anthology (Science Fiction Poetry Association, 2003), ROLE CALL: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature & Art (Third World Press, 2001), BUM RUSH THE PAGE: A Def Poetry Jam (Three Rivers Press, 2001), 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology (Anamnesis, 2001), as well as the literary journals Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, Drumvoices Revue, Obsidian III, Voices: The Wisconsin Review of African Literatures, and Ishmael Reed’s KONCH. In 2003 she was awarded the Ledig House/LEF Foundation Prize for Fiction and was nominated for the 2003 Rhysling Award in the Short Poem category. Her work also received Honorable Mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror: Sixteen Annual Collection (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003). A Cave Canem Poetry Fellow and a member of the Beyond Dusa Women’s Collective, Thomas, originally from Memphis, teaches at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and lives in New York City with her family.
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