Willie Perdomo
Willie Perdomo grew up in East Harlem, only blocks away from Langston Hughes' house. He attended local schools until sixth grade when he won a scholarship to Friends Seminary, a private Quaker school in lower Manhattan. "Friends operated on a Quaker philosophy and lifestyle," says Perdomo. "That was quite a shock for a Puerto Rican boy from East Harlem who was used to falling asleep to the bark of abandoned German shepherds, street gang war cries and gunshots. But Friends is where I started to take myself seriously as a writer." By his senior year in high school, Willie had already been published in The New York Public Library's publication, New Youth Connections.
"Langston Hughes was such an influence on my writing," says Perdomo, "that I knew eventually I would try writing for children as well. Our children need all the books they can get their hands on. The thought of a young boy or girl reading Visiting Langston and being inspired to write a poem really excites me."
Willie Perdomo is the author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, a collection of his original poetry. His work has been included in several anthologies including Aloud: An Anthology of Writing from The Nuyorican Poets Café; Boricuas: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Writing; Listen Up! A Spoken Word Anthology, and Step Into a World. He has been featured on several PBS documentaries including "Words in Your Face" and "The United States of Poetry." Perdomo is the recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowship 1996 and the NYFA Poetry Fellowship 2001. He also co-wrote an episode for the HBO series, "Spicy City," and recorded on "Flippin' the Script: Rap Meets Poetry" (Mouth Almighty Records/Mercury). He lives in New York City and is completing another collection of poetry, Smoking Lovely. His short story, "Harlem River Kiss" will be included in Wachale: Growing Up Latino in the U.S.A., an anthology for young adults edited by Ilan Stavans that will be published in November 2001.
Praise and Honors for Willie Perdomo
Author of Visiting Langston
"Perdomo finds poetry in broken lines and blocked prose, in pieces of dialog and prayer. . . . As rough and sharp as the images often are, there is grace and tenderness as well. A good introduction to what's happening on the cutting edge."-Library Journal
"Drawing on rap, jazz, Langston Hughes and the rhythms of the streets, this collection bristles with congas, timbales, police sirens and wino oracles. . . . [The] poems . . . are scalding . . . and dizzying."-Publishers Weekly
"Langston Hughes has been reincarnated and lives in Spanish Harlem. His name is Willie Perdomo. Where a Nickel Costs a Dime is a priceless, precious package of poetry."-Claude Brown, author of Manchild in the Promised Land
"In the words of Muhammad Ali Willie Perdomo's poems 'float like butterflies, sting like bees.' They have grace and power and don't waste their time, but zoom down the subway tracks to the true heart of New York City, Harlem, which is brown and black, and talks back in its dialect of drugs, death, and destiny."-Ai, author of Vice, winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Poetry
*Recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowship 1996*
*Recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship 2001*
Content provided by the publisher.
Reviews
Visiting Langston
Willie Perdomo
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
A paean to Langston Hughes in lilting jazz rhythms, poet and native of Harlem Willie Perdomo's spare narrative follows a young girl as she visits Hughes's brownstone home in Harlem. Coretta Scott King Awardee Bryan Collier's watercolor and collage illustrations match the feeling of Perdomo's words. His images riff with emotion rather than realism. The little girl's pink-striped shirt and her daddy's faux alligator jacket add to the color of the place-and to each of them as individuals. This is a book filled with pride; a book meant to give pride. A prefatory Author's Note gives a brief biographical sketch of Hughes which emphasizes his motivations as a writer. BIBLIO: 2002, Henry Holt, Ages 4 to 8, $15.95. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr
ISBN: 0-8050-6744-2
I, Too, Sing America: The Story of Langston Hughes
Martha E. Rhynes
Born into a broken home in Joplin, Missouri in 1902, Langston Hughes was to become one of the foremost poets of his time. A remarkably prolific creative mind, Hughes is known for his stories, plays, essays, newspaper columns, opera librettos, and even scripts for early television programs. His lasting fame, however, is that of one of America's greatest writers of verse. Hughes spoke out against the controversial "Jim Crow" laws in the south, which discriminated against blacks and kept them from participating in the electoral process. Later, he came under fire for his alleged communist sympathies and was required to testify before McCarthy in the infamous congressional hearings. The book's title comes from one of Hughes's famous poems, which pays homage to another poem by Walt Whitman, while at the same time effectively pointing out the inequities among the races during the decades preceding the turbulent sixties. Part of the "World Writers" series, included in this biography are black and white photographs, a timeline, source list, bibliography, and index. 2002, Morgan Reynolds, Ages 10 to 14, $20.95. Reviewer: Christopher Moning
ISBN: 1-883846-89-7
Langston Hughes: Great American Poet
Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack
Originally published in 1992, the McKissacks have revisited the life of Langston Hughes and updated this biography. Readers learn about his father's desertion of the family after studying law and learning that African Americans could not practice in Oklahoma. He went to Mexico where he felt better opportunities existed. Langston and his mother struggled to make ends meet and Langston spent many years with his grandmother in Lawrence Kansas. He learned about great African American heroes. In the meantime Langston's father had become fairly wealthy in Mexico and offered to pay for Langston's education at Columbia, but he really didn't enjoy college. Harlem and the African-American community were a big draw. In 1925 he was "discovered" and the next year he won a prize for his first book of poems. He never stopped writing and died at the age of 65. Even today people are rediscovering and enjoying his poems. This book has a timeline, words to know section, and a list of references that are reasonably current as well as several Internet addresses. There is an index. 2002, Enslow, Ages 8 up, $14.95. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot
ISBN: 0-7660-1695-1
Love to Langston
Tony Medina
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Langston Hughes, one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, comes to life in this homage by Tony Medina. Crafting his poems using the style of his subject, Medina sheds light on Hughes' life, from his childhood to his deathbed. Each poem covers a different phase of his life, from the struggle of sitting in the "Jim Crow Row" in school to his happiness at Alice Walker bringing him "A Bag of Oranges" on his deathbed. Because Medina mirrors Hughes' style in his biographical poetry, the reader gains more insight than he would have if it were just a straight-text biography. To further understand the meaning behind the poems, a section of notes at the end of the book describe in deeper detail what Langston was going through. This last section is particularly useful for teachers. Whether you're studying poetry, African-American history, or biography, Love to Langston will come in handy. 2002, Lee & Low Books Inc, Ages 7 to 12, $16.95. Reviewer: Carey Ahr
ISBN: 1-58430-041-8
Several other excellent books about Langston Hughes are the biographical pastiche Love to Langston by Tony Medina, I, Too, Sing America: The Story of Langston Hughes by Martha E. Rhynes, and Langston Hughes: Great American Poet frrom Patricia and Fredrick McKissack.
Added 04/16/02
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