There’s something happening in Milwaukee’s Black literary spaces. Call it a moment, or a renaissance, but whatever you call it — it needs to be appreciated.
While there was the recent closing of Ashley Valentine’s beloved bookstore, Rooted MKE, another Black-owned bookstore recently opened, Niche Book Bar from Cetonia Weston. Milwaukee is home to multiple authors, including New York Times bestseller, Danielle Prescod. It’s home to world-renowned poet, Dasha Kelly Hamilton.
And it’s also where the Black-book influencer, Cree Myles, lives.
“[I've been in] these digital streets pushing books since 2017,” says Myles, curator of Penguin Random House’s All Ways Black collection.
If you open up your Instagram and search for Myles or the Always Black collection, you’ll find some of her thoughtful, engaging posts where she shares new books by Black authors on a regular basis. And while the authors aren’t from Milwaukee, she brings together folks in the city’s Black literary scene in real life.
Recently, she did that with her first literary salon, celebrating the co-birthdays of literary superstars and icons, Toni Morrison and Audre Lourde, with about 10 other people from around Milwaukee.
“If we're talking classic salon… you can read something from somebody else, you can read something you wrote, you can just listen, you can present art,” says Myles. “A part of salons are workshopping or publicly performing something you’ve held close to you and to debate big ideas.”
Symphony Swan Zawadi was also at the salon. She's an artist, archivist and founder of CR8TV HOUSE, which sustains historical Black spaces to create community for Black and historically marginalized artists.
She shared a writing from her mom, Lisa Turner, with the group, reading: “I have always believed in miracles. That’s why I’ve always enjoyed helping other people. Ever since I was 17-years-old, all of my jobs have been public related… I especially enjoyed being a nurse's assistant the most… my reward for helping others was always seeing joy on their faces.”
These spaces, sharing personal stories and Black literature, are a dream for Myles.
It’s also the result of decades of Black writers and spaces who’ve built up the city. Writers like Milwaukee’s newly minted, 14th Poet Laureate, Shelly Conley.
“I always say I attribute my growth in writing to Mecca nightclub,” Conley says of Still Waters Collective poetry space with Dasha Kelly. “It was a space that felt like home and felt comfortable even though it took a year for me to actually get up on that stage and do my first poem. That was home for almost a decade.”
As Milwaukee Public Library’s newest Poet Laureate, Conley will travel promoting and advocating for the craft, which is something that she does regularly, like last week at a Black history program at the Boys & Girls Club’s Mardak Center where she performed for local high school students.
This aligns with other work that she does, specifically My Sista’s KeepHer, where she works with MPS girls to teach about self love and expression through poetry. This year the organization celebrated its 11th birthday.
“Each year we work with 400-500 girls in the city,” Conley says. “We have a book called A Journey to Self Heal Her, that takes our curriculum and turns it into a book. So you get all the poetry, all the writing prompts and then there are some short stories in there.”
She also released her own book, Rewind, which is a collection of poetry, short stories and childhood journal entires, just over a year ago.
Like Myles, Conley notices what’s happening in Milwaukee's Black literary spaces. She also sees it in poetry spaces, saying that after a lull in readings, the poetry community is back and hosting regular readings multiple times a week around the city.
“Art in general I think is being recognized so I think that covers poetry, that covers visual art and…we know that all of those forms are healing and inspiring,” says Conley. “The state currently makes me really happy that there’s all these doors and windows opening to let art in all the forms come through.”
Book recommendations
Dr. Monique Liston
- Of Black Study by Joshua Myers. "It’s incredible to see someone I went to college with doing such important work in the field of Black studies."
- Abolition Democracy by Angela Davis. "Necessary reading to understand this time in history and it’s accessible."
Dr. Kantara Souffrant
- Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. "I do not let people walk away without recommending this book."
Aletha KhielSelah
- Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. "It floored me and I cried more than I should have."
- The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. "A crushing, beautiful story."
Cree Myles:
- Original Sins by Eve Ewing. "It is all about how the U.S. education complex is working exactly as it should be by keeping Black and indigenous people undereducated. And she gives receipt after receipt after receipt. Stunning."
Shelly Conley:
- Rewind by Shelly Conely. "It was a big emotional rollercoaster where I was able to address my younger self and give myself everything I needed in that moment."
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