Friday 15 January 2021

Ellen Hagan : part three

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

The first poets who really shaped the way I saw my own writing were my teachers and mentors: Kelly Norman Ellis, Crystal Wilkinson and Karen Harryman. They showed me how to write about identity, landscape, where I’m from and who and what I write for. They introduced me to writers like June Jordan, Naomi Shihab Nye and Nikky Finney. The Affrilachian Poets were also instrumental for me. I am thinking specifically of Parneshia Jones, Asha French, Mitchell L. H. Douglas and Danni Quintos – all artists I have worked with – and who encouraged me in different ways in craft and experimentation. I am also thinking of my former students: Alondra Uribe, Olivia Cole, Yvonne M. Johnson and Marissa Davis. They are constantly changing the way I see my own work. I am so moved and lifted by watching the way they create. It makes me want to keep rising up in my own work. 

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