We are delighted that poet, historian, and educator Sheila Smith McKoy, PhD, will be our guest at San José State University (SJSU). Dr. Smith McKoy will lead us into a discussion about her book, The Bones Beneath, and Black poetry as tied to historical and contemporary engagements with, and critiques of, the social construction of race. She will also unpack the use of literary craft and poetics as synaestheses for equity, inclusion, and social justice.

This in-person event is on October 28, 2024, 6:00-7:30PM at San José State University, Location: WSQ HALL, ROOM 207.

Register by clicking here.

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Bio for Sheila Smith McKoy, PhD:
Dr. Smith McKoy is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. She is the recipient of the 2020 Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Prize in poetry. Her full-length poetry collection, The Bones Beneath (Black Lawrence Press, 2024) is described as “haunting.” She is also co-author of One Window’s Light: A Haiku Collection, a collaboration of five Black poets; the collection won the 2017 Haiku Society of America’s Merit Book Award for best haiku anthology. Smith McKoy has also written, produced, directed or served as executive producer for four documentary films, including Maama Watali and Luwero: A Conversation about War, Peace and Gender (2017).

In addition to her poetry and fiction, Smith McKoy has authored and edited numerous scholarly works. She is published widely in the areas of race and difference, mentorship, literature and culture, and mentorship. Her books include the seminal text in understanding white race riots, When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures, which has been continuously in publication since 2001. She is co-editor of Teaching Literature and Writing in Prisons (2023) and
Recovering the African Feminine Divine in Literature, the Arts, and Performing Arts: Yemonja Awakening (2020). She is the editor of The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Writing Self, Writing Nation (2016) and The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Artistry, Culture and Commerce (2017). She continues to engaged in vital conversations about equity, inclusion and the Black speculative. A native of Raleigh, NC, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Website: https://smithmckoy.weebly.com/

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