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Writers on Writing” Radio Show
June 13, 2021 at 7:00 pm - 7:30 pm
About the Episode
Dr. Brenda Greene interviews poet, essayist, and children’s writer Tony Medina. They discuss the genesis of I Am Alfonso Jones: A Graphic Novel. Medina talks about his need to portray the experiences of young Black men in America. Alfonso represents the loss of childhood as he undergoes a journey and reflects on civil rights icons, the criminalization of youth, the prison industrial complex, and the importance of studying and knowing one’s ancestry. In crafting this novel, Medina makes Alfonso visible. Greene and Medina also discuss other texts by Medina, his writing process, and the ways in which he engages youth and his students in his teaching of writing. Medina closes by reading one of his poems that reflect the life of a Black Latino in New York City.
About Tony Medina
Poet, writer, author, lecturer, and scholar Tony Medina is the author/editor of 20 books for adults and young readers, including Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (Penny Candy Books, 2018); the graphic novel I Am Alfonso Jones (Tu Books, 2017); Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky (Jacar Press, 2016); DeShawn Days (Lee & Low Books, 2001); Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, 2001); Love to Langston (Lee & Low Books, 2002); Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature & Art (Third World Press, 2002); Committed to Breathing (Third World Press, 2003); and Follow-Up Letters to Santa from Kids Who Never Got a Response (Just Us Books, 2003). His poetry, fiction, essays, and book reviews appear in more than a hundred publications and two CD compilations. Medina is the first professor of Creative Writing at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Listen on the radio at WNYE 91.5 FM. Email writers@mec.cuny.edu for more information.
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