Yolanda Wisher | |
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| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) |
| Occupation | Poet, spoken-word artist |
| Alma mater | Lafayette College; Temple University |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | Monk Eats an Afro |
| Website | |
| yolandawisher | |
Yolanda Wisher (born 1976) is an American poet, educator and spoken-word artist who focuses on the experience of being African-American. [1] [2] She is a graduate of Temple University and was selected as the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia in 2016. [3] [4]
Yolanda Wisher was born in Philadelphia and grew up in North Wales, Pennsylvania. [5] She studied English and Black Studies, obtaining her BA degree in English and Black Studies from Lafayette College. [5] [6] She received her MA in creative writing from Temple University in 2000. [4]
Wisher taught English for various years at the Germantown Friends School. She was the founder and director of the Germantown Poetry Festival, a local poetry event in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia from 2006 to 2010. [5] From 2010 to 2015, she served as the Director of Art Education for the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. [5]
| External videos | |
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 “Yolanda Wisher Named Philly's New Poet Laureate", February 5, 2016, 6ABC News | |
| "Yolanda Wisher Performs "Gangsta Birth" @ Re-Imagining Maplewood Mall", May 30, 2015, Ronald Dove | |
| "Imagining Germantown with Cultural Agent Yolanda Wisher", June 26, 2014, U.S. Department of Arts and Culture |
As of 2015, Wisher is a Founding Cultural Agent for the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture. [5] In 2016, she was chosen as the third poet laureate of Philadelphia, following Sonia Sanchez (2012–13) and Frank Sherlock (2014–15), respectively, [3] [7] and is a 2016 writer-in-residence at the Hedgebrook residency program for women writers. [8]
Wisher lives in Germantown with her partner Mark Palacio and their son Thelonius. She frequently plays music with her band "Yolanda Wisher and the Quick Fixx". [5]
Books of poetry
Contributor to anthologies
Wisher has also published in periodicals including The American Poetry Review , Black Arts Quarterly, Chain, Drumvoices Revue, Fence, Hanging Loose, Melus , Meridians Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, nocturnes (re)view of the literary arts, Open Letter, Ploughshares , and POeP!. [6]
Wisher was chosen as the poet laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1999, [9] and later selected as the third poet laureate of Philadelphia in 2016, by mayor-elect Jim Kenney. [5]
She was a fellow of the Cave Canem Foundation from 1999 to 2000 and has published in their anthology Gathering Ground (2013). [10]
She received a Leeway Art and Change grant in 2008, [5] and was the recipient of a Pew Center for Arts and Heritage grant for 2015. [11]
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