Catching up with co-editor Teneice Durrant, plus her upcoming interview series Reply All

Hey friends of Blood Lotus! It’s been a while, and the first thing I want to say to you all is a great big THANK YOU for hanging out with us for the last nine years. Stacia and I are still chugging away on different projects, both together and on our own, and as we transition over to a literary blog, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share what I’ve been up to.

One of the things that absolutely fascinates me is how we continue to identify with place, actual locations on a map, in an increasingly virtual world. I have lived in the Midwest most of my life and proudly identify as a Midwesterner. However, a lot of other areas overlap in the Midwest: Rustbelt, Appalachia/Affrilachia, The Great Plains, The Ohio River Valley, and each of these areas contribute to the rich diversity of the Midwest. My Ohio Valley Midwest is different from someone else’s St. Louis Rustbelt Midwest, is different from someone else’s Iowa City Midwest.

To speak to this, I hope you’ll keep an eye out for my upcoming blog posts titled: Reply All. For the first round of Reply All, I’ve asked some Midwest writers of different locations and backgrounds to comment on their Midwest Identity. I’ll post excerpts from our Reply All email discussions in the coming weeks.

#BLauthor3: Mitchell L. H. Douglas

Follow Mitchell on Twitter.

Next in the author spotlight is poet Mitchell L. H. Douglas.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Associate Professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem fellow, and poetry editor for PLUCK!: the Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. His second poetry collection \blak\ \al-fə bet\, winner of the 2011 Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award, is available from Persea Books. His debut collection, Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem, was a runner-up for the 2007 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, a semifinalist for the 2007 Blue Lynx Prize, and a semifinalist for the 2006 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. In 2010, Cooling Board was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Literary Work-Poetry category and a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. His poetry has appeared in Callaloo, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press), Crab Orchard Review, and Zoland Poetry Volume II (Zoland Books) among others.

Here are four shorter poems by Douglas, plus two portraits by Piya Chakrabarti using a unique acrylic on plastic technique:

Appalachian Heritage Month: Revisit our Affrilachia interview series from 2012

October is Appalachian Heritage Month. Last year, co-founder and poetry co-editor Teneice Durrant Delgado conducted a series of interviews of some Affrilachian poets who are also BL authors.

Check out her interviews with Ellen Hagan, Ricardo Nazario y Colon, Keith Wilson and Parneshia Jones.

Learn more about the Affrilachian Poets by visiting and liking their Facebook page.

Frank X. Walker, founder of Affrilachian Poets, named Kentucky Poet Laureate

Frank X. Walker is a powerful poet. His persona and historical poems are must-reads (hint). He's the founder of the Affrilachian Poets (revisit our four-part series of interviews with fellow Affrilachian Poets Keith Wilson, Ricardo Nazario y Colon, Parneshia Jones, and Ellen Hagan). He's even a graduate of Spalding University's brief-residency MFA in Writing program, like almost all our editors.

And now, he's the youngest and first African American poet laureate of the state of Kentucky.

Congratulations, Frank. Congratulations, Kentucky. And congratulations to everyone who will now be exposed to Frank's words because of this well-deserved title.

Affrilachian Appreciation interview 4: Parneshia Jones talks to Teneice Delgado

In recognition and appreciation of Appalachian heritage month, and in an effort to contribute to a more diverse conversation on what it means to be Appalachian, Stacia Fleegal and I decided to show a little love to a few talented poets that we’ve published in previous issues who are all members of an organization called the Affrilachian Poets (you can follow them here on Facebook and learn more about them here).

We're going to feature one poet every Monday that remains in October. Last week's interview was with Ellen Hagan. Week two featured Keith Wilson, and the week before that featured Ricardo Nazario y Colón. Our fourth and final interview is with Parneshia Jones, who will have work in the upcoming issue (#26)--but we include a timely reprint of one of her poems here, a poetic reminder to vote next week.

Enjoy the interview!

-Teneice Delgado

Affrilachian Appreciation interview 3: Ellen Hagan talks to Teneice Delgado

In recognition and appreciation of Appalachian heritage month, and in an effort to contribute to a more diverse conversation on what it means to be Appalachian, Stacia Fleegal and I decided to show a little love to a few talented poets that we’ve published in previous issues who are all members of an organization called the Affrilachian Poets (you can follow them here on Facebook and learn more about them here).

We're going to feature one poet every Monday that remains in October. Last week's interview was with Keith Wilson, and the week before that featured Ricardo Nazario y Colón. Third in our series of interviews is Ellen Hagan. We’ve had the pleasure of publishing Ellen in #13 and our latest double issue, #24-25. Ellen’s amazing stage presence has always captivated me. Stay tuned for videos of her and the other AP’s we’ve interviewed.

Enjoy the interview!

-Teneice Delgado

Affrilachian Appreciation interview 2: Keith Wilson talks to Teneice Delgado

In recognition and appreciation of Appalachian heritage month, and in an effort to contribute to a more diverse conversation on what it means to be Appalachian, Stacia Fleegal and I decided to show a little love to a few talented poets that we’ve published in previous issues who are all members of an organization called the Affrilachian Poets (you can follow them here on Facebook and learn more about them here).

We're going to feature one poet every Monday that remains in October. Last week's interview was with Ricardo Nazario y Colón. Up this week is Keith Wilson, whose poem "rules of prejudice" rocked our 20th issue. Rocked it so hard that got a lot of feedback about it and we eventually nominated it for Best of the Net 2011. Find out more about Keith here.

Enjoy the interview!

-Teneice Delgado

Affrilachian Appreciation Interview 1: Ricardo Nazario y Colon talks to Teneice Delgado

In recognition and appreciation of Appalachian heritage month, and in an effort to contribute to a more diverse conversation on what it means to be Appalachian, Stacia Fleegal and I decided to show a little love to a few talented poets that we’ve published in previous issues who are all members of an organization called the Affrilachian Poets (you can follow them here on Facebook and learn more about them here).

We're going to feature one poet every Monday that remains in October. Our first poet is Affriliachian Poets founding member Ricardo Nazario y Colon, whose poem “Papo Hueso” appeared in our most recent issue. Find out more about Ricardo here.

Enjoy the interview!

-Teneice Delgado