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Wanda Coleman
Wanda Coleman
Wanda Coleman
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Wanda Coleman (November 13, 1946 – November 22, 2013) was an American poet.[1][2] She was known as "the L.A. Blueswoman" and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles".[3]

Key Information

Biography

[edit]

Wanda Evans was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she grew up during the 1950s and 1960s. She is the eldest of four children. Her parents were George and Lewana (Scott) Evans, who were introduced to one another at church by his aunt. In 1931, her father had relocated to Los Angeles from Little Rock, Arkansas, after the lynching of a young man who was hung from a church steeple. He was an ex-boxer and long-time friend and sparring partner of Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore. In Los Angeles, he ran a sign shop during the day and worked the graveyard shift as a janitor at RCA Victor Records. Her mother worked as a seamstress and as a housekeeper for Ronald Reagan, among other celebrities.[4]

According to the Poetry Foundation, Coleman wrote her first poems at age 5 and had her first ones published in a local newspaper at age 13.[5]

After graduating from John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles, Wanda Evans enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys, California. She transferred to California State University at Los Angeles, but did not complete a degree.[4]

Shortly after finishing high school, she married white Southerner Charles Coleman, a troubleshooter for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. Their union produced two children, Luanda and Anthony. She went on to marry two more times. Her second marriage produced her second son, Ian. Her third husband was poet Austin Straus, whom she married in 1981.[4]

After divorcing her first husband, Coleman worked a variety of jobs to make ends meet as a single mother, including waiting, typing, and editing a soft-core pornography magazine.[6] She wrote for a number of men's magazines under the pseudonym Andrew L. Tate.[7]

She and Straus hosted a radio show, Pacifica Radio's "Poetry Connexion", from 1981 to 1996. On the show they interviewed both local and internationally known writers.[8] In a 2020 New Yorker article, author Dan Chiasson refers to an interview Coleman did with the Poetry Society of America where she describes herself as a “Usually Het Interracially Married Los Angeles-based African American Womonist Matrilinear Working Class Poor Pink/White Collar College Drop-out Baby Boomer Earth Mother and Closet Smoker Unmolested-by-her-father.” [9]

Within her writing, whether it be fiction, essays, or poetry, Coleman introduces and develops characters whose lives bring to light social inequalities.[10]

Coleman received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry). She was the first C.O.L.A. Literary Fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her honors included an Emmy in Daytime Drama writing (the first African American woman to receive such an honor), the 1999 Lenore Marshall Prize (for Bathwater Wine), and a finalist for the 2001 National Book Awards (for Mercurochrome). She was a finalist for California poet laureate (2005).[11]

Coleman died on November 22, 2013, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[12] She had been ill for a while. The Los Angeles Times described Coleman as "a force on the Los Angeles poetry scene" and the city's unofficial poet laureate.[12]

After her death, Black Sparrow Press, Coleman's longtime publisher, released Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems, Edited & Introduced by Terrance Hayes in 2020. The collection draws work from all of Coleman's Black Sparrow Press books, which spanned from 1983 to 2005. Author Mary Karr wrote, "Wicked Enchantment has words to crack you open and heal you where it counts—hateful and hilarious, heartbroken and hellbent."

Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems quickly received critical acclaim upon publication. In a piece for the New Yorker entitled "The Fearless Invention of One of L.A.'s Greatest Poets," critic Dan Chiasson wrote "One of the greatest poets ever to come out of L.A., she shaped the city's literary scene like few before her. . . . Rarely does a poet seem to want to take an already brutally brief form and speed it up. But Coleman's sonnets are sprints, which is what makes their improvisations, modelled on American blues and jazz, so compelling."

Writing online for Poetry in a piece entitled "Heart First Into This Ruin",[13] Lizzy LeRud wrote: "Today, Coleman's significance is unquestioned.... In Wicked Enchantment, Coleman's fans, new and old, will find some of her most vital challenges to American racism and its market-driven culture, rendered in her uniquely unsettling lyric voice. Her work pushes us to confront injustice with as much candor as she did—and with as much care."

As of 2022, Wanda Coleman has published fifteen poetry books and chapbooks, two mixed-genre books (poetry and fiction), two book of short stories, one novel, and two books of nonfiction.

Controversy

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While critically acclaimed for her creative writing, Coleman's brush with notoriety came as a result of an unfavorable review she wrote in the April 14, 2002, issue of the Los Angeles Times Book Review of Maya Angelou's book A Song Flung Up to Heaven. Coleman found the book to be "small and inauthentic, without ideas wisdom or vision". Coleman's review provoked positive and negative responses, including the cancellation of events and the rescinding of invitations.[14] Her account of this incident appears in the September 16, 2002, edition of The Nation.

"In our post-9/11 America, where unwarranted suspicions and the fear of terrorism threaten to overwhelm long-coveted individual freedoms, a book review seems rather insignificant—until the twin specters of censorship and oppression are raised. What has made our nation great, despite its tortuous history steeped in slavery, are those who have persisted in honoring those freedoms, starting with the Constitution and its amendments. It is this striving toward making those freedoms available to every citizen, regardless of race, creed, color, gender or origin, that makes the rest of the insanity tolerable. It is what allows me to voice my opinion, be it praise song or dissent, no matter who disagrees.".[14]

Books

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  • Heart First Into This Ruin: The Complete American Sonnets. Black Sparrow Press. 2022.
  • Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems. Black Sparrow Press. 2020. ISBN 978-1574232370.
  • The Love Project. (with Austin Straus). Red Hen Press. 2014
  • The World Falls Away. University of Pittsburgh Press. 2011. ISBN 9780822961642.
  • Jazz and Twelve O'Clock Tales. Black Sparrow Press. 2008. ISBN 9781574232127.
  • The Riot Inside Me: More Trials & Tremors. Black Sparrow Press. 2005. ISBN 9781574232004.
  • Ostinato Vamps. Pitt Poetry Series, 2003–2004. ISBN 9780822958338
  • Mercurochrome. Black Sparrow Press. 2001. ISBN 9781574231533. (National Book Awards finalist)
  • Mambo Hips and Make Believe: A Novel. Black Sparrow Press. 1999. p. 4. ISBN 9781574230949.
  • Bathwater Wine. Black Sparrow Press. 1998. ISBN 9781574230642.
  • Native In a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors. Black Sparrow Press. 1996. ISBN 9781574230222.
  • Hand Dance. Black Sparrow Press. 1993. ISBN 9780876858967.
  • African Sleeping Sickness: Stories & Poems. Black Sparrow Press. 1990. ISBN 9780876858127.
  • A War of Eyes and Other Stories. Black Sparrow Press. 1988. ISBN 9780876857359.
  • Heavy Daughter Blues: Poems & Stories 1968-1986 Black Sparrow Press. 1987.
  • Imagoes. Black Sparrow Press. 1983. ISBN 9780876855096
  • Mad Dog Black Lady. Black Sparrow Press. 1979. ISBN 9780876854129.

Chapbooks and limited editions

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  • Moon Cherries. Sore Dove Press. 2005.
  • Wanda Coleman: Greatest Hits 1966-2003. Pudding House Publications. 2004.
  • American Sonnets. Woodland Pattern. 1994.
  • The Dicksboro Hotel & Other Travels. Ambrosia Press. 1989.
  • Art in the Court of the Blue Fag. Black Sparrow Press. 1977.

Further reading

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References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Wanda Coleman

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from Grokipedia
Wanda Coleman was an American poet, fiction writer, essayist, and scriptwriter known for her unflinching and confrontational explorations of racism, poverty, Black womanhood, and urban life in Los Angeles. Often called the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles and the "L.A. Blueswoman," she earned acclaim for her raw, vivid language and dynamic performances that transformed personal and social pain into powerful poetry. Born Wanda Evans on November 13, 1946, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Coleman grew up in poverty amid racial tensions that deeply informed her work. She began writing poetry as a child, saw her first poems published in her teens, and participated in local writing workshops during the late 1960s and 1970s while raising her family and holding various jobs, including as a medical secretary and journalist. She also wrote scripts for the soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1975 to 1976, for which she received an Emmy Award. Coleman's prolific career encompassed numerous poetry collections, short story volumes, essays, and a novel, with key works including Mad Dog Black Lady (1979), Imagoes (1983), Bathwater Wine (1998), which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Mercurochrome (2001), a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry. She received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, along with other honors such as California Arts Council awards, and performed her work extensively in diverse venues worldwide. Her writing, characterized by directness, rage-infused lyricism, and fusion of forms and voices, established her as a vital and influential figure in American literature until her death on November 22, 2013, in Los Angeles.

Early Life

Birth and Family Background

Wanda Coleman was born Wanda Evans on November 13, 1946, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. She was the daughter of George Evans and Lewana Evans (née Scott). Her father was a former boxer and longtime friend and sparring partner of Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore; he ran a sign shop on Central Avenue during the day and worked the graveyard shift as a janitor at RCA Victor Records. Her mother worked as a seamstress and as a housekeeper for Ronald Reagan, among other celebrities.

Childhood in Watts and South Central Los Angeles

Wanda Coleman grew up in the Watts neighborhood and South Central Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s, a period marked by racial tensions in the area that culminated in the 1965 Watts riots when she was a teenager. Her parents nurtured a love for books and music in the household, providing solace amid pervasive prejudice, uncaring teachers, and peer cruelties. Coleman described her 1950s and 1960s upbringing as one of stultifying intellectual loneliness dictated by her dark skin and unconkable kinky hair, which made growing up in Los Angeles feel like torture, with boys gawking, girls tittering behind her back, Black teachers shaking their heads in pity, and White teachers staring in amusement or wonder. She attended dehumanizing public schools in Los Angeles during this era and found libraries discouraging to Black readers, often monitoring and misjudging her as a young patron. Her father's work operating a sign shop on Central Avenue placed the family amid a historic corridor of Black cultural life in Los Angeles, where music and community vibrancy offered counterpoints to the challenges of the era.

Pre-Writing Career

Early Jobs and Life Experiences

Coleman married young and became the mother of two children by the age of 20. She divorced her first husband in 1969 before entering a long-term marriage with poet Austin Straus. Following her divorce, she supported her children as a single mother amid economic challenges in Los Angeles. To make ends meet during the late 1960s and 1970s, Coleman held a variety of jobs, including waitress, proofreader, medical transcriber, and magazine editor. Other roles she took on during this period included production editor and assistant recruiter for Peace Corps/Vista. These early adult experiences built upon her upbringing in Watts and South Central Los Angeles, where she navigated persistent financial and personal hardships.

Television Writing Career

Entry into Scriptwriting

During the 1970s, Wanda Coleman entered the field of scriptwriting through her experimentation with television as one of several creative forms she explored alongside theater, dance, and journalism. This period represented a transition from her earlier variety of jobs, undertaken to support her family after her divorce in 1969, toward professional writing opportunities in television that provided income while she pursued broader artistic endeavors. Her initial foray into scriptwriting laid the groundwork for later involvement in the medium, reflecting her versatility as a writer navigating economic necessities and creative ambitions.

Specific Credits and Emmy Award

Coleman's television writing credits include the episode "The Time Is Now" for the NBC anthology series The Name of the Game, which aired in 1970. She also received a story credit (co-written with Christopher Joy) for an episode of the ABC police drama Starsky and Hutch ("Bloodbath"), which aired in 1977. Her most prominent television work came as a staff writer on the NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives during the 1975-1976 season. For her contributions to the series, Coleman received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in 1976.

Shift to Literary Work

Disillusionment with Hollywood

After achieving recognition in television with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Daytime Serial for her work on Days of Our Lives in 1976, Wanda Coleman became disillusioned with Hollywood. The commercial pressures, merciless deadlines, and creative constraints of scriptwriting for soap operas proved unsatisfying and unfulfilling. This disillusionment stemmed in part from broader industry issues, including unfair treatment and racism that limited opportunities and authenticity for Black writers. Coleman described Hollywood's lack of fairness as comparable to similar dynamics in the literary world, where systemic biases often prevailed over merit. As a result, she left television writing behind to dedicate herself fully to independent literary work, particularly poetry and prose that allowed greater personal expression and truth-seeking. Her departure marked a deliberate pivot away from mainstream commercial media toward a more autonomous creative path.

Poetry and Prose Publications

Wanda Coleman emerged as one of the most prolific and distinctive voices in contemporary American poetry and prose, authoring nearly twenty books that draw deeply from her experiences in Los Angeles. Known as the "L.A. Blueswoman" and widely regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles, her writing captures the raw realities of urban Black life, often with an electrifying performative energy honed through hundreds of public readings. Her work consistently confronts racism, poverty, gender inequality, class divisions, and the disenfranchised lives of California's underclass, blending rage, humor, and unflinching candor to illuminate systemic injustices and personal resilience. Her literary output includes early landmark poetry collections such as Mad Dog Black Lady (1979) and Imagoes (1983), which marked her emergence with bold, visceral depictions of Black experience in America. Subsequent volumes expanded her range, including hybrid works like Heavy Daughter Blues: Poems & Stories 1968–1986 (1987) and prose collections such as A War of Eyes and Other Stories (1988), African Sleeping Sickness: Stories and Poems (1990), and the autobiographical essays in Native in a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors (1996). She also published the novel Mambo Hips and Make Believe (1999), short story collections like Jazz and Twelve O’Clock Tales (2008), and poetry volumes including Hand Dance (1993), Bathwater Wine (1998), Mercurochrome: New Poems (2001), Ostinato Vamps (2003), and The World Falls Away (2011). Across these works, Coleman developed her signature "American Sonnets," a flexible, explosive reinvention of the form that appears in multiple books and addresses contemporary racial and social tensions with technical innovation and sonic complexity. After becoming disillusioned with Hollywood television writing, she committed more fully to her literary career, producing this expansive body of poetry and prose that continues to influence discussions of race, place, and poetic form. Posthumously, Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems (2020) gathered representative pieces from her career, underscoring her lasting impact.

Awards and Recognition

Emmy and Other Honors

Wanda Coleman received a Daytime Emmy Award in 1976 for her writing on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. The honor recognized her contributions to the show's writing team during her tenure from 1975 to 1976. Coleman also earned fellowships in support of her literary work, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts from 1981 to 1982 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1984. These awards affirmed her growing reputation as a poet following the publication of collections such as Imagoes. Among her later honors were the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets in 1999 for Bathwater Wine, a bronze-medal finalist position in the National Book Awards for poetry in 2001 for Mercurochrome, and the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2012. She additionally received California Arts Council awards in fiction in 1982 and in poetry in 2002, along with the inaugural C.O.L.A. Literary Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in 2003.

Personal Life

Marriages and Relationships

Coleman married young and was the mother of two children by the age of twenty. She wed her first husband, Jerry Coleman, at eighteen and had two children with him, Anthony and Luanda Tunisia, before their marriage ended in divorce in 1969. She retained custody of the children following the separation. Coleman later married Stephen Grant, with whom she had a third child, son Ian, born in 1979. That marriage also ended in divorce. In 1981, Coleman married poet Austin Straus in a partnership that lasted more than thirty years until her death in 2013. The couple collaborated on creative projects, and Straus survived her. Coleman had three children in total: Anthony, Tunisia Ordoñez, and Ian Grant.

Later Years

In her later years, Wanda Coleman remained deeply rooted in Los Angeles, where she continued her literary work and engaged with the local poetry scene despite mounting health challenges. She stayed married to fellow poet Austin Straus, her husband since 1981, and the couple collaborated on creative endeavors, including a joint book of love poems they were completing in her final years. Coleman published notable collections during the 2000s, including Mercurochrome (2001), which earned a finalist position for the National Book Award in poetry. This was followed by Ostinato Vamps (2003) and the mixed-genre collection The Riot Inside Me: More Trials & Tremors (2005). She also received several honors recognizing her contributions, such as a poetry award from the California Arts Council in 2002, the inaugural literary fellowship from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in 2003, a finalist position for California Poet Laureate in 2005, and the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2012. Coleman sustained an active performance presence in Los Angeles, delivering electrifying readings at venues like Beyond Baroque, where her jazzy, improvisational style continued to draw audiences. In her later period, she contended with a long illness that increasingly impacted her activities.

Death and Legacy

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