Meet Professor Tsitsi Jaji (English): Connecting Black Poetry And Music Into Dialogue

Professor Tsitsi Jaji (English) was once a piano student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Over the years, she has accompanied a well-known tenor and composed music for an African modern dance troupe. She is also known for her literary scholarship and creative works like Beating the Graves and Mother Tongues – poetry collections that reflect on family relations, diaspora, powerful women, first words, and love and language. Now she is using a new Mellon Fellowship to return to her roots and explore the little-studied connection between Black composers and poets like Paul Dunbar and Langston Hughes. Read more about her work here
 

Order your copy of Prof. Tsitsi Jaji’s book from University of Nebraska Press:

“Beating the Graves“ by Tsitsi jaji (University of Nebraska Press)

“Mother Tongues” by Tsitsi jaji (University of Nebraska Press)