PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Dear Colleagues,

I can personally vouch for this extraordinary, multi-talented elder, educator, writer -- Kalamu Ya Salaam.  He has helped me with my research, writing and publication work for my university. I have worked with him for years.  He has been incredibly resourceful, dedicated and generous with me, my students and community. He and his wife evacuated New Orleans and are staying with a relative of his wife’s.  He can not even cash checks drawn on his New Orleans bank. 

His bio is below.  If there is any way you, your department or any of your organizations can use funds for speakers, lecturers, consultants to provide work for this incredible mentor, it would be a win/win situation.  It would be a fine investment on behalf of those you serve.  Sooner is much better than later. 

An extensive collection of his writings, plus a feature-length interview are available online at Chicken Bones (http://nathanielturner.com/kystable.htm).  Please forward widely.  Kalamu’s contact information is at the end of this email.  If I may assist in anyway, please let me know.

Professor E-K. Daufin, Ph.D.

Department of Communications

Alabama State University

915 South Jackson St.

Montgomery, AL 36101-0271

http://home.earthlink.net/~daufin

www.mylegacyforlife.net/thedaufin

www.sohotaxes.net/daufin

KALAMU YA SALAAM ("Pen of Peace")

     Born on March 24, 1947 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Kalamu ya Salaam is a professional editor/writer, movie maker, educator, producer and arts administrator.  Mr. Salaam is a co-founder (with Kysha Brown) of Runagate Multimedia publishing company. He is the founder and director of the Neo-Griot Workshop, a New Orleans-based Black writers workshop and is the moderator of e-drum, a listserv of over 1600 black writers and diverse supporters of literature. He and his son Mtume ya Salaam operate Breath of Life (kalamu.com/bol), a conversation about Black music website. He is co-director of Students at the Center, a writing program in the New Orleans public schools.
     Salaam travels frequently sharing his Neo-Griot/SAC vision of arts production and education. He has conducted workshops and worked with students to produce movies while in residence in London, England; Bronx, New York; Dallas, Texas; and at Scott’s Branch High School in South Carolina.
     His latest books are the anthologies From a Bend in the River: 100 New Orleans Poets (Runagate Press 1998) and 360° A Revolution of Black Poets (BlackWords Press 1998). Mr. Salaam latest spoken word CD is My Story, My Song  (AFO Records). He is the recipient of a 1999 Senior Literature Fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. His latest movies include “He’s On His Way,” a documentary about jazz funerals. The Magic of JuJu, a book length appreciation of the Black Arts Movement is forthcoming from Third World Press
An extensive collection of his writings, plus a feature-length interview are available online at Chicken Bones (http://nathanielturner.com/kystable.htm).
     Mr. Salaam is the leader of The WordBand, a performance poetry ensemble. He and musician Fred Ho comprise The Afro-Asian Arts Dialogue, a poetry/music duo. He is also a radio producer and DJ for WWOZ, 90.7FM in New Orleans and a record producer with AFO Records, a New Orleans independent record label.
     Mr. Salaam served as the Executive Director of The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation for four years (1983-1987). Before the NOJ&HF, Mr. Salaam served as the editor of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine for thirteen years. 
     Kalamu ya Salaam has traveled extensively as a journalist, activist and arts producer:  Ghana, Tanzania and Zanzibar, Barbados, Brazil, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Korea, Japan, The People's Republic Of China, England, France and Germany.

Contact Information:
Kalamu ya Salaam
c/o Voris Richard
5913 Pate Road
Houston, TX 77016
504/710-9694
email: [log in to unmask]