ABOUT KWAME ALEXANDER

According to Publisher's Weekly, Midwest Book Review, and the National Association of Women in Publishing, thirty-six year old Kwame Alexander is a pivotal figure in contemporary American literature and publishing. Publisher, poet, playwright, and author of eight books including the best-selling Do The Write Thing: 7 Steps to Publishing Success, Kupenda: Love Poems, and Book of Rhymes, a collection of young adult short stories.  Alexander has hosted and produced over two hundred live literary-related readings, programs and festivals, and is currently developing two literary-related television programs.

As a literary expert and commentator, he has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs including Fox News, Tavis Smiley, BET's Teen's Summit, News Channel 8?s Entertainment Forecast, NBC Affiliate WBAL (Baltimore), Washington, DC stations WKYS, WMMJ, WHMM, and WPGC; and NPR's Kojo Namdi Show. He has also been featured in the Washington Post, Poets and Writers Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, Detroit Metro-Times, Washington Times, Sacramento Observer, Baltimore Sun, Vibe Magazine, Source Magazine, and The Virginia Pilot-Ledger Star.

The founder of two book publishing companies, BlackWords Press and Do The Write Thing, this publishing veteran of over fifteen years is responsible for some of the most progressive, original and exciting fiction and non-fiction on the shelves today, having published over forty authors in different genres, including: M. Dion Thompson, former Baltimore Sun reporter and author of the critically-acclaimed historical novel Walk Like A Natural Man, and Lalita Noronha, author of the short story collection, Where Monsoons Cry.

Dubbed a ?phenom? in the poetry world by The Charleston (SC) City Paper, Alexander has wowed audiences with his electric readings and lectures at coffeehouses, theatres, and universities across the country and abroad. In 2002 and 2004, Alexander was selected as a special guest author for the Library of Congress Poets at Noon Series, and The Washington Post-Maryland Center for the Book Evening in The Stacks Gala.

Recently, Alexander served as a script consultant for the PBS series Moneywise; and scriptwriter for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) PSA, narrated by Bill Cosby. Two of his plays, The Seventh Son, and Nervosis, have been professionally produced in Washington, DC, at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre and the Capital Renaissance Theatre/H Street Playhouse, respectively.

Kwame Alexander has served as a judge for several local and national literary awards, including the Georgia Writer?s Awards, and the Washington, DC Parkmont Poetry Awards. Among his many board appointments are The CityLit Project, Baltimore's Artscape Festival, and the Hippodrome Arts & Education Committee. Alexander has participated as a ?poet-in-the-school? for Arlington, VA, Little Rock, AK, and Denver, CO public schools.

Alexander lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter, and enjoys reading, writing, and a good game of chess.

Dancing Naked on the Floor

by Kwame Alexander

Publisher: BlackWords Press
Pub. Date: December 2003

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."

ISBN: 1888018003
Format: Paperback, 112pp
Pub. Date: September 1995
Publisher: BlackWords Press

Related Links

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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