FABU

Fabu, a gifted poet, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin—Madison with one Master’s in African Languages and Literature and another Master’s in Afro-American Studies. She serves the Madison community as a literary artist and educator. She is passionate about the ability of each child to learn and has designed innovative curriculum to strengthen the learning abilities of African American children. As a literary artist, she creates and shares poetry reflecting her life spent in Memphis, Tennessee, Nairobi, Kenya and Madison, Wisconsin.

Her enchanting original and unique stories are most often from the perspective of women, children and African Americans. She is multicultural in perspective and encourages writing in many languages. She is wildly creative which draws the best out of her audiences. This combination of a creative and scholastic background makes her an exceptional poet and storyteller. Her poetry has appeared in Callaloo, Black Books Bulletin, The Wisconsin Academy Review, UMOJA magazine, Rosebud Magazine, The Madison Times, and The Capital City Hues. She is also a guest columnist for The Capital Times newspaper. She has a published chapbook, In Our Own Tongues.

Fabu along with Areceli Esparanza, Rakina Muhammed, and Nydia Rojas have founded The Hibiscus Collective; a writers group for women. Fabu is currently employed as a private consultant in African American culture and works as a valuable resource to organizations wanting to connect with communities of color for artistic and educational purposes. As of January 21st, 2008 she is the third Madison Poet Laureate and will serve until 2011. Her e-mail address is blkpoetess68@hotmail.com.