KYSHA N. BROWN is a 28 year-old publisher, poet and performer. She is co-founder and president of Runagate Multimedia, an independent Black, New Orleans-based press that specializes in books on New Orleans culture and African heritage cultures worldwide. She is a broadly anthologized poet and a member of Kalamu ya Salaam's WordBand, a poetry performance ensemble.

She says, "I want to produce, write and perform. Is there something wrong with wanting it all?"

As president of Runagate Multimedia, she is responsible for the day-to-day business operations and the company's long-term planning. Runagate has published and Brown has co-edited (with Kalamu ya Salaam) the anthology Fertile Ground: Memories & Visions (1996) which includes noted writers from the Caribbean, Africa, England and important African-American writers such as Amiri Baraka, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Stephen Henderson, Haki Madhubuti, and Sonia Sanchez, all of whom are represented by previously unpublished work. Runagate's second publication is the critically acclaimed anthology From A Bend In The River: 100 New Orleans Poets (1998). In the fall of 1998, Runagate collaborated with BlackWords Press to produce 360° A Revolution of Black Poets which features 40 established and emerging Black writers. Future publications include the anthology Speak The Truth To The People representing the work of 25 writers from the NOMMO Literary Society, a New Orleans writing workshop of which Brown has been a member since 1995.

"Publishing is both important and fulfilling. While we have literally hundreds and hundreds of writers, we have only a handful of serious publishers. I intend to help fill the publishing void," she says.

Brown's poetry appears in literary magazines and is represented in national anthologies such as Catch the Fire, Dark Eros, and 360° A Revolution of Black Poets. Her hallmark is meticulous craft, a fine ear for alliteration and a sensitive use of metaphor.

On writing, Brown says, "Rather than write ten poems a month which are mediocre, my goal is to write at least one good poem a month. When I say good, I mean a poem that ten years from now will still be fresh and which I will be proud to claim at that moment without having to make some sorry excuse about it being an example of my early writing."

As a performer, Brown has been a featured member of the WordBand for over two years. Amoung her performances and recordings with the group and/or as a solo artist are the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (1996, 1997 & 1998), the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta (1994, 1996 and 1998), the Black Writer's Conference at Chicago State University (1996), the Sonia Sanchez Symposium in Philadelphia (1997), and as a featured poet at 360° A Revolution of Black Poets in Baltimore (1998).

"Writing for the page is important, and it is also important to communicate verbally and to master the various techniques of spoken word presentation.  What I want to do is raise the bar. In my performances I want to achieve both the subtly of the page and the excitement of the stage. I want to sing and swing, consistently and exquisitely, and I will settle for nothing less than excellence," she says.

Publisher, poet, performer Kysha N. Brown represents the future of Black literature.