Writers on Writing” Radio Show

About the Episode
Dr. Brenda Greene interviews poet, curator, and mentor Cheryl Boyce-Taylor. Greene and Boyce-Taylor discuss her recent book, Mama Phife Represents: A Verse Memoir (Haymarket Books, 2021). The book, a collection of poems, monologues, and letters, is a tribute to her late son Phife Dawg (Malik) of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Greene and Boyce-Taylor discuss her process for writing the book, her journey as a poet, and the implications of Malik’s music for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Boyce-Taylor reads from Mama Phife Represents and her collection of poetry. Boyce-Taylor has a message for emerging writers and for encouraging young people to pursue the arts.

About Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet and teaching artist. Her collections of poetry include Raw Air (2000), Night When Moon Follows (2000), Convincing the Body (2005), Arrival (2017), which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize, and Mama Phife Represents (2021). The founder and curator of Calypso Muse and the Glitter Pomegranate Performance Series, Boyce-Taylor has led workshops for Cave Canem, Poets & Writers, and the Caribbean Literary and Cultural Center. Her poetry has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater and the National Endowment for the Arts for Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company. She is the recipient of the 2015 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award and a VONA Fellow. Her life papers and portfolio are stored at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. She can be found at https://cherylboycetaylor.net.

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