Kalamu ya Salaam, Poet

Kalamu ya Salaam

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Photo Credit Lynda Koolish

Kalamu ya Salaam is the founder of NOMMO Literary Society. NOMMO is a New Orleans-based creative writing workshop whose members are published in national anthologies such as Dark Eros, Kente Cloth, Catch the Fire, and 360° A Revolution of Black Poets. He is also a founder of Runagate Press, which focuses on New Orleans and African-heritage cultures worldwide.

Salaam is the leader of the WordBand, a poetry performance ensemble that combines poetry with blues, jazz and other forms of music. Salaam's work includes the spoken word CD "My Story, My Song" (AFO Records) and his latest book "What Is Life?" (Third World Press).

Born March 24, 1947, Salaam's awards include national and regional awards for poetry, play writing, literary criticism, cultural criticism, and radio production. Salaam has served on numerous panels and boards, including NEA Literature panels. He has read his poetry and lectured at universities, community programs and institutions worldwide.

Salaam is also moderator of CyberDrum, a listserv of Black writers and diverse supporters of literature. To join CyberDrum or contact Kalamu, email him at kalamu@aol.com

Hear Kalamu ya Salaam Read No Ordinary Water Fall and Call of the Wild

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What Is Life?: Reclaiming the Black Blues Self
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ISBN: 0883780836
Pub. Date: May 1994
Format: Paperback, 229pp
Publisher: Third World Press

In What Is Life: Reclaiming the Black Blues Self, Kalamu ya Salaam -- poet, activist, cultural worker and contributor to the best-selling Black Erotica -- takes us on an introspective journey in search of the answers that African Americans struggle to obtain. His reflections capture our movement and complacency, involvement and noninvolvement from the mid-sixties to the present. Salaam insists, "The central issue of What Is Life? is to focus on the difficult and contradictory, to grapple with the hard issues."

What happened to Civil Rights? Did the Black Power Revolution fail? Who benefited from integration? What happened to the Black revolutionaries? Where are tha measses of Black people headed as we engage the nineties? Encased in piercing poetic insight, What Is Life/ offers hope and direction and moves us closer to constructing a "realistic and effective ideology to serve our continuing development"
—Third World Press (1994)

360º A Revolution of Black Poets
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Edited by Kalamu ya Salaam & Kwame Alexander

ISBN: 1888018127
Format: Hardcover, 232pp
Pub. Date: September 1998
Publisher: BlackWords, Inc.

Click to hear Kalamu ya Salaam read the names of the poets included in this historical document (Real Audio Required)

At poetry slams, in coffee houses and cafes, on spoken word CDs, and even featured in Hollywood movies, a new and exciting renaissance of Black poetry is emerging out of the oral tradition of African-American culture. 360°: A Revolution of Black Poets presents the cutting edge of this poetic firestorm sweeping across America. More About 360º A Revolution of Black Poets

Fertile Ground - Memories & Visions
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by Kalamu Ya Salaam (Editor), Kysha N. Brown (Editor)

ISBN: 096538540X
Pub. Date: June 1996
Format: Paperback, 288pp
Publisher: Runagate Press

Read Why Fertile Ground is such an important work

Fertile Ground is an unbelievable package of diverse work. We have new science fiction from Amiri Baraka, Kalamu ya Salaam and Kiini Ibura Salaam. We also have manuscript excerpts from books which are now published: Haki Madhubuti presents two exquisitely crafted "love/marriage poems" from HeartLove, and Sonia Sanchez gives us a section from Does Your House Have Lions. There is also an excerpt from a work in progress by master poet Kamau Braithwaite (the 1994 winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature). Kamau tackles the thorny issue of genocide in Rwanda. There's also a major excerpt from an innovative work about cultural memory from Tobago-born, Canadian resident M. Nourbese Philip. Educator, lawyer, and former Black Panther leader Kathleen Cleaver is writing her memoirs; we have "The Summer of Love," the chapter which describes Eldridge Cleaver's courtship of her. Educator, musicologist and theologist Jon E. Spencer, author of Blues And Evil, presents a provocative view of blues as an alternative theology to Christianity. The Atlanta Committee for Black Liberation, a collective of cultural activists, documents an insightful critique of the "Million Man March." Writer and award winning anthologist (In Search Of Color Everywhere) E. Ethelbert Miller offers a tribute poem to Langston Hughes. Mississippi poet Charlie Braxton graces us with two blues-based poetic gems. Baton Rouge poet Erren Kelly gifts us with a poignant and gripping narrative poem about the Black father/son relationship. From Africa we have three new poems by South African poet Keorapetse Kgositsile and a major essay on "time, poetry and the blues" by Ghana's leading poet, Kofi Anyidoho. And there's much more!

Fertile Ground includes a very special tribute section highlighting the work of literary critic Stephen Henderson, author of the seminal anthology, Understanding The New Black Poetry. Three of Henderson's powerful and insightful essays (two of which are previously unpublished) are included. Henderson has produced a body of criticism that is unparalleled in its depth, scope and originality.

Also featured are New Orleans photographers Gus Bennett, Terri Mimms and Eric Waters; graphic artists Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier of Atlanta and Douglas Redd of New Orleans; plus mixed-media visual artist Renee Stout, who received critical acclaim for her touring exhibit, "Dear Robert, I'll See You At The Crossroads."

Fertile Ground also highlights the work of three Black writers workshops. The Carolina African American Writers' Collective, led by poet Lenard D. Moore, is represented by twelve writers. From Liverpool, England we get the work of the Griot Workshop which displays a healthy sampling of dub and music-influenced poetry. From New Orleans we get the work of eleven writers of the Nommo Literary Society.

Biography - Salaam, Kalamu ya (1947-): An article from: Contemporary Authors
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from: Thomson Gale

This digital document, covering the life and work of Kalamu ya Salaam, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1466 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:
Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
Family members
Education
Professional associations and honors
Employment
Writings, including books and periodicals
A description of the author's work
References to further readings about the author

Anansi: Fiction of the African Diaspora
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Paperback: 102 pages
Publisher: Cetera Press (February 1999)
ISBN-10: 0015228355

by Sheree Renée Thomas (Author), Angeli R. Rasbury (Author), , Kalamu ya Salaam (Author), et. al.

Taking its name from the trickster/storyteller figure in African and Caribbean folklore, Anansi: Fiction of the African Diaspora introduces original short fiction by talented writers of African descent. Read More about Anansi

From A Bend in the River: 100 New Orleans Poets
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by Kalamu Y. Salaam (Editor)

ISBN: 0965385418
Pub. Date: April 1998
Format: Hardcover, 220pp
Publisher: Runagate Press

Related Links

Kalamu ya Salaam is available for lectures, poetry readings, video screenings, workshops and residencies
http://www.kalamu.com/

Kalamu's Reviews on AALBC.com
http://aalbc.com/reviews/kalamu.htm

e-drum
www.topica.com/lists/e-drum
a listserv providing information of interests to black writers and diverse supporters worldwide