Description
Poetry. African & African American Studies. Women's Studies. In Louisiana and other parts of the American South, the Caribbean, and South America, escaped African and Native peoples formed "maroon communities" deep in swamps and mountains. Historians refer to the permanent establishment of these free settlements as "grand marronage." Similarly, Creole communities in New Orleans resisted Jim Crow—but at whose expense? This book examines the lives of New Orleans' Creole women of color, told through multiple generations. The women of GRAND MARRONAGE find ways to diminish the impacts of racism and sexism, but not without cost. What must be given up for safety? How is the chain of familial trauma broken? What does inclusive liberation demand from us? The unspoken—in both family history and the historical record—is given breath in this multigenerational lyric. GRAND MARRONAGE is a map of the spiritual maroon community created by Creole foremothers, and a beginning of the work still to be done for this marronage to be complete.
Author Bio
Dr. Irène P. Mathieu is a pediatrician, writer, and public health researcher. She is the author of GRAND MARRONAGE (Switchback Books, 2019), which won Editor's Choice for the Gatewood Prize and runner-up for the Northwestern/Cave Canem book prize; OROGENY (Trembling Pillow Press, 2017), which won the Bob Kaufman Book Prize, and the galaxy of origins (dancing girl press, 2014). Her honors include Yemassee Journal's Poetry Prize and Honorable Mention and Editor's Choice awards in the Sandy Crimmins National Poetry contest. Her poems have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Boston Review, Southern Humanities Review, Los Angeles Review, Callaloo, New Delta Review, Foundry, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. Irène serves as a poetry book reviewer for Muzzle Magazine and an editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine's humanities section. She holds a BA in International Relations from the College of William & Mary and a MD from Vanderbilt University, and has received fellowships from the Fulbright Program and Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. She is represented by Jack Jones Literary Arts.
Author City: Philadelphia, PA USA