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Troubador Publishing Ltd - Nicole Moore

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100 pages

English

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Hair Power - Skin Revolution is a collection of poetry and personal essays from a diverse group of black and mixed-race women - everyday women expressing themselves in their own unique style. The collection includes contributions from forty-eight authors, that explore the issues, interests, cultural and historical influences that have shaped their times and their imaginations. The writers offer empowering and creative ways of understanding and relating to the themes of hair and skin. They tell their narratives, presenting their views in passionate, intelligent, humorous, strong and reflective voices, some unheard; some previously published in the former two Shangwe anthologies. This third Shangwe anthology, by nature of its cultural diversity components successfully contributes towards representing and promoting the writing of women from African and African-Caribbean backgrounds. As well as being a contribution towards Black British literature, this anthology celebrates, reflects upon and embraces our diverse female identities and the common-thread that unites us living the UK experience.

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	02 août 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781848769823
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

HAIR POWER – SKIN REVOLUTION

A collection of poems and personal essays by black and mixed-race women

ALSO BY NICOLE MOORE

Sexual Attraction Revealed: A selection of creative expressions by black and mixed-race women – 2007 (editor)

Brown Eyes: A selection of creative expressions by black and mixed-race women – 2005 (editor)

HAIR POWER SKIN REVOLUTION

A collection of poems and personal
essays by black and
mixed-race women

Edited by
Nicole Moore
Copyright © 2010 Nicole Moore

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Matador 5 Weir Road Kibworth Leicester LE8 0LQ, UK Tel: (+44) 116 2792299 Email: books@troubador.co.uk Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1848763 937

Typeset in 11pt Bookman by Troubador Publishing Ltd, Leicester, UK

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

For my granddaughter, Sophie

Shangwe is a female Swahili (East African) name and means Celebration

CONTENTS

The Journey So Far: An Introduction xi

HAIR STORIES 3 Patsy Antoine Growing Roots 5 Nehanda Buchanan Hear My Lifetime Hair
Journey 7 Monique Campbell The Evolution of My Hair 9 Christine Collymore Lifetime of Hair 12 Anduosjahla James-Wheatle My Journey…to Me 14 Colette Machado Naturally Relaxed 16 Sheree Mack I've Got 'Good' Hair 18 Nicole Moore A Journey to Natural Hair 20 Brenda White Hair to Stay 22

PERSONAL ESSAYS: HAIR 25 Louisa Adjoa-Parker Afro Chic 27 Natalie Ambersley Taming those Tresses 32 Catherine Anthony Boldeau My Bad Hair Life 35 Scherin Barlow Massay Hair: A Journey of Self
Discovery 40 Christine Collymore Unwritten Rules 44 Suzanne Creavalle Afro Child 47 Yolande Deane Still a Bird…but not a Robin 51 Chris-Tia Donaldson Thank God I'm Natural!!! 54 Rachelle Hull Coiled Journey 57 Fiona Joseph Hair Wars: Growing up Frizzy
in the 1970s 61 Valerie Mason-John Our Crowning Glory 66 Mesha Mcneil Beauty Marks and Battle Scars 71 Pauline Walker 'Your Hair is Your Beauty' 74 Yvonne Witter Natura Politica 78

PERSONAL ESSAYS: SKIN 83 Ellen Aaku To Bleach or Not to Bleach? 85 Natalie Ambersley Skin Perspectives 90 Margaret Auguste A Daughter takes a Mother on

Amanda Epe Brighter Days for African

Donna-Marie Glashen What Does Your Dress Say

Sheree Mack The Distorted Eye 107 Nicole Moore Wrapped Up In Conflict 110 Nicole Moore Are You Black or White? 115 Cristina Odigie-Bulnes Colourful Perceptions 120 Akuba Quansah Beyond the Skin Where No

POEMS: HAIR 131 Louisa Adjoa-Parker Settling In 132 Gennett Aku Agbenu Me and my 'fro 133 Scherin Barlow Massay No Lye! 134 Daniella Blechner Hair We Are 135 Christine Collymore Accept Me, For Me 137 Leaya Collymore My Hair 138
a Journey Back to Herself 93 Beauty 98 About You? 102 Mirror Can Reflect 126

Dorothy Cornibert du Boulay Jan Blan Hair 139 Karron Francis-Darling Mi Face or Mi Hair 141 Leandra Gebrakedan Curly Sue 142 Nicola Greenwood Hair Place 143 Zakia Henderson-Brown Happy Ending 144 Zakia Henderson-Brown Long Story 145

Tracy Henry Great Hair or Great Sex?

Louise Hercules Scarlet 149 Michelle Hubbard Divine Dreadlocks 150 Sheree Mack Rollers 151 Fiona Mckinson I Am My Hair 152 Nicole Moore My Hair 154 Bola Odeyemi Hair on My Head 156 Bola Odeyemi It's Only Hair Today…

Elayne Ogbeta HAIR 158 Elayne Ogbeta Rapunzel, Rapunzel 159 Akuba Quansah Hair Speaks Slavery 160 Dorothea Smartt Hairdresser: Budapest 162
You Can't Have Both! 147

Gone Tomorrow 157

Dorothea Smartt Hairdresser: Holding Her Own 164 Dorothea Smartt Hairdresser: Tender Partings 165

POEMS: SKIN 167 Marcellina Aderibigbe My Skin Tells a Story 168 Louisa Adjoa-Parker Mulatto Girl 169 Christine Collymore U HEAP of SKIN 170 Leaya Collymore Black 171 Tjawangwa Dema Tuareg Indigo 172 Tjawangwa Dema Diaspora: Souvenirs from
the Edge 173 Louise Hercules Interpretation 174 Jennifer Hooper Skin Layer 175 Emma Louise Felicia Hopkins Miss Story 176 Emma Louise Felicia Hopkins Talking Peacock 178 Michelle Hubbard Colour Canvas 180 Nicole Moore Lost for Words 181 Nicole Moore Skin 182 Norma Treasure-Garwood Back to Black 183

Author Biographies 185 Acknowledgments 196

THE JOuRNEY SO FAR: AN INTROduCTION

My introduction to the world of literature came at a late age through an experience that stirred up all sorts of thoughts and emotions and I knew straight away that it was not just a world, but the world in which I wanted to live and work. It was the year 1995 when I studied black women's literature, which gave me the rare opportunity to delve, with others, into the worlds of African-Caribbean and Black British writers. I was able to deepen my understanding of issues affecting black women at large through literature, whilst discussing and sharing my own ideas. All of this studying was particularly encouraging and enlightening and set me on a path of exploration, which has continued until this day.
Now I can honestly say I have a passion for language, whether written or spoken and my relationship with the written or spoken word has taken me on a particularly fascinating journey. My work has extended me in ways that have been pleasantly surprising, travelling as far as the US and the Caribbean to promote/research intercultural dialogue, thereby sharing and developing creative ideas within a wider perspective.
I enjoy writing and editing and I write everyday, whether an article a blog or poetry. I love the elements of poetic rhythms; the voice, expression of feeling, use of imagination, thinking in images, dreaming and associating – all these aspects of creating my work have inspired me. I also love to read – my favourite author is Toni Morrison – my favourites from her collection are Beloved and A Mercy. The personal essay genre is more than 400 years old and is one of my favourite ways to express honesty, the past, expansions of the self, and much more. It should certainly be celebrated, because it is one of the most approachable and diverting types of literature we possess. It possesses the freedom to move anywhere, in all directions. I have learned a lot from reading The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (recommended reading for personal essay enthusiasts).

* * *

Shangwe's website www.shangwe.com was created and launched in January 2005 with the main purpose of contributing to the development of new Black British literature by promoting writing by and for UK Black and Mixed-Race women. In this context, Shangwe aims to inform, inspire and empower these women writers, build their confidence and encourage their participation in the arts, and ensure that UK Black and Mixed-Race women's writing makes a historical literary contribution to Black British writing
In September 2008 and as part of Black History Month, I advertised for, collected and edited Black women's Africentric natural hair stories to post on a new blog. The aim was to provide an interactive dialogue of visual and written expressions to share our journeys to natural hair styles. What was profound for me was how much I enjoyed working with the mixed media of creative writing and photography, which has added a new dimension to my work.
A diverse range of hair stories and poems were received from ten contributors of African and African-Caribbean descent and these were published, one every three days, on blog www.hairjournal.blogspot.com , which was launched on 1st October 2008.
I discovered that black and mixed-race women had lots to say in their hair stories, which included, as was to be expected, the good, the bad and the ugly experiences they had encountered over the years, which had influenced them to finally aim for a more natural hair style. In December 2008, I carried out an evaluation of the Hair Stories project and received positive feedback. For one contributor, writing her hair story was her first attempt at creative writing:
'This was my first creative piece and it was an extremely cathartic experience. I felt so at peace when I completed it. I wanted it to be poetic and yet provide a story about my life through the journey of my hair. This short piece prompted me to write a 4,000+ word short story using the themes from the short creative piece…' (Nehanda Buchanan, 22/12/08).
In particular, although many participants felt proud to see their written submissions published on-line, they thought the next stage would be to see their work in a printed format, i.e. a collection.
In May 2009, I returned to the project and decided to add the theme of skin so as to widen the project's scope for a potential anthology. The hair and skin themes are important to me for a number of reasons. For example, society, particularly the beauty and fashion industries still maintain a closed shop when it comes to the selection and promotion of models. In women's magazines, on catwalks, even shop dummies, dark skin is rarely seen. In this context, light skin and straight hair affirm superior human status.

* * *
The purpose of this collection is to offer the creative expressions of 48 Black and Mixed-Race women writers whose voices are among those defining this new era of contemporary Black British literature. The creative energies within this book offer a greater understanding and insight into creative writing by black and mixed-race women. In the pages that