Quraysh Ali Lansana
American poet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quraysh Ali Lansana (born Ron Myles [1] September 13, 1964, Enid, Oklahoma)[2] is an American poet, book editor, civil rights historian, and professor.[3][4][5][6] He has authored 20 books. Since 2023, he has worked as an associate professor of English at The University of Tulsa. Lansana is co-creator and executive producer of "Focus: Black Oklahoma," a monthly radio program on the public radio station KOSU.[7]
September 13, 1964
- Enid High School (1982)
- University of Oklahoma (journalism, no degree)
- Chicago State University (B.A., African American Studies)
- New York University (M.F.A., creative writing)
- Poet
- Professor
- Editor
- Civil rights historian
Quraysh Ali Lansana | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ron Myles September 13, 1964 Enid, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Education |
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| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1995–present |
| Employer | University of Tulsa |
| Notable work |
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| Spouse | Emily Hooper (m. 1996, divorced) |
| Awards |
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Early life and education
Born Ron Myles in Enid, Oklahoma, on September 13, 1964,[2] he graduated Enid High School in 1982.[8][1] Prior to focusing on poetry, in the 1980s he studied broadcast journalism[9][5] at the University of Oklahoma. After getting a job as an assignment editor at KWTV,[1] Lansana dropped out of college.[10] He was fired from the station a year later for tardiness.[10] After spending a year living in Medicine Park, Oklahoma, Lansana decided to move to Chicago in 1988.[9] There he worked as an editor for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, and founded Nappyhead Press.[9]
Lansana grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, but changed his name to Quraysh Ali after converting to Islam in 1993,[9] and adopted the last name Lansana upon marriage to now ex-wife Emily Hooper in 1996.[9] He practiced Islam until 1999,[1] later also turning to African faiths such as Yoruba[9] and attending Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.[1]
He returned to school in 1996, earning his B.A. in African American Studies at Chicago State University[5] where Gwendolyn Brooks was his mentor.[1] Lansana holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University.[2]
Teaching career
Lansana has taught at the Juilliard School,[3] the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Oklahoma City University,[8][2] and was the director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University.[8][2] He previously worked as the acting director for the Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation,[11] Writer in Residence for the Center for Poets & Writers,[12] and as a professor of Africana Studies and English at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.[13] Since 2023, Lansana has worked at the University of Tulsa,[6] where he is an Applied Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing, and of Media and Communication. Since 2025, he has served as Executive Producer and Faculty Advisor for the student-run weekly live news program TUTV.[14]
Historical research
As a historian Lansana has extensively researched the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. For the centennial of the tragedy, he helped create an exhibit at Tulsa's Philbrook Museum of Art,[15] taught workshops at OSU-Tulsa,[13] worked with the History Channel, WYNC Studios, and KOSU to create Blindspot: Tulsa Burning podcast,[16] and hosted the documentary Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years Later which broadcast on OETA.[12] Lansana also wrote a children's book about the Greenwood District with Najah-Amatullah Hylton and illustrator Skip Hill entitled Opal’s Greenwood Oasis.[17]
Awards
In 1999 he won the Wallace W. Douglas Distinguished Service Award[3] and the Henry Blakely Award,[2] was nominated for the NAACP Image Award in 2012,[3] and was named the Chicago Black Book Fair's Poet of the Year in 2000.[2] He also received a Tulsa Artist Fellowship[4] to create Focus: Black Oklahoma[5] for NPR affiliate KWGS,[5] where he serves as Executive Producer. Lansana is a contributing editor for Oklahoma Today magazine.[6]
Works
Poetry collections
- The Skin of Dreams: new and collected poems 1995-2018 (2019)[5][18]
- A Gift from Greensboro Penny Candy Books. (2016) [3]
- with Christopher Stewart, The Walmart Republic Mongrel Empire Press (2014)[2]
- mystic turf Willow Books (2012)[2]
- They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems Third World Press (2004)[2]
- Southside Rain Third World Press (2000)[2]
Chapbooks
Children's books
- The Big World Addison Wesley (1999)[2]
- with Skip Hill, Gift From Greensboro Penny Candy Books (2021)
- with Najah-amatullah Hylton and Skip Hill, Opal's Greenwood Oasis The Calliope Group Ltd (2021)
Editor
- African American Literature Reader Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. (2001)[3]
- I Represent Gallery 37, Chicago, IL (1996)[3]
- dream in yourself Gallery 37, Chicago, IL (1997)[3]
- with Georgia A. Popoff, Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy & Social Justice in Classroom & Community Teachers & Writers Collaborative (2011)[3]
- The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop Haymarket Books (2015)[2]
- Medina, Tony., Bashir, Samiya A, and Lansana, Quraysh Ali. Role Call : A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Art & Literature. Chicago: Third World, 2002.
- with Georgia A. Popoff, The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience and Change Agent Haymarket Books, 2017.
- with Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks Curbside Splendor Publishing, 2017.
