An Ode to Black Skin with Ashanti Anderson

On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha continues National Poetry Month highlighting Ashanti Anderson, whose debut chapbook Black Under was the winner of the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition hosted by Black Lawrence Press. Ashanti is a Black Queer Disabled poet. Her poems have appeared in World Literature Today, POETRY magazine, and elsewhere in print and on the web. 

Episode Notes
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On this episode of Black & Published, Nikesha continues National Poetry Month highlighting Ashanti Anderson, whose debut chapbook Black Under was the winner of the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition hosted by Black Lawrence Press. Ashanti is a Black Queer Disabled poet. Her poems have appeared in World Literature Today, POETRY magazine, and elsewhere in print and on the web. 

During the conversation, Ashanti discusses why she spent two years feeling sorry for herself after receiving her MFA before moving forward with trying to put her poems in print. She also explains why she was looking for a press that centered artistic integrity and autonomy and why she centers the fullness of the Black experience in her work without the white gaze.