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Creative Writing MFA Student Spotlight: Ah-Keisha McCans

Creative Writing MFA Student Spotlight: Ah-Keisha McCans

April 29, 2024
A blue background with yellow headers around the text. The Drexel University logo is at the bottom. The headings are in yellow and regular text is in white. The photos are black and white. A photo of Ah-Keisha McCans, outside smiling in a grey t-shirt and holding her book, is on the left. She has long brown hair. The text reads, "What authors have played a role in your writing career? ‘The writers that have influenced my work include Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Tennessee Williams, Lorraine Hansberry, Zora Neale Hurston, Octavia Butler, and Kate Chopin. As an adult, when I read Chopin’s work, it really resonated with me as a mother in a patriarchal society.’ What is your organization, “Whole Body Literacy & Education” About? ‘Whole Body Literacy & Education is this notion, in the tradition of Augusto Boal and Paulo Freire, that we learn by doing and reading the world and the word. Whole Body Literacy & Education designs and facilitates responsive, literacy-forward, whole-bodied workshops and presentations that honor diverse voices and inspire change-making using the arts and storytelling. Literacy isn’t just the words we can read with our eyes. It also encompasses our experiences. I believe that embodiment is super important. I believe that education is a living experience.’ ‘I started writing professionally at 13 years of age. I was a ghostwriter for a TV movie. I was also a poet, so then I started performing and writing as a hip-hop artist named Kindred Wisdom. I wrote about the communities that I come from in Harlem, about navigating systems of inequity and violence. I named myself after reading Kindred by Octavia Butler. I met her and I got to tell her that I named myself after her.’’
The same background and style. The Drexel University logo is at the bottom. A photo of Ah-Keisha, smiling and wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans, in the midst of one of her workshops, is in the top right. In the bottom left is a selfie of Ah-Keisha, wearing a “Do it for the culture” sweatshirt. The text reads, “What makes a powerful story to you? ‘For me, the power of a story is being able to be honest as a writer, to tap into something that you can connect to, deeply. With that understanding, you are willing to tell the truth and to be vulnerable.’ Quick Facts: Is a mother of four children Has recently been loving Astonishing the Gods by Ben Okri, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan, and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Wrote a children’s book, Pots, that is inspired by her children and the sounds in her home. It was illustrated by her partner of 24 years, Et Green Is from Harlem, New York City, and grew up bi-coastal in Los Angeles, California Is a professor of Applied Theatre at the City University of New York Goal in life is to live with joy at the center of all things Being in tune with nature and appreciating life’s day-to-day experiences are very important to her spirituality and her writing”
2023-2024 Spotlights, MFA Student Spotlights, Uncategorized

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