About the Book
Motown, the crossover label made rhythm and blues the soul of American popular culture. Join us in honoring the artists connected to Hitsville, USA, and 30 years' worth of "The Sound of Young America." We asked contributors to show us their knowledge of Motown, its history and its place amongst R&B, soul, and Hip-Hop. We invited them to pay homage to the greats: Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Rick James, The Pointer Sisters, Lionel Ritchie, Teena Marie, DeBarge, Erykah Badu, Toni Braxton, Queen Latifah, Diddy, Ne-Yo, Lil Yachty, Migos and so many more. This new poetry anthology is the result.
About the Author :
Cherise A. Pollard, Ph.D., is Professor of English at West Chester University and former director of the WCU Poetry Center. A Cave Canem and Callaloo Fellow, Pollard was awarded a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. Her poem, "Sugar Babe" was a Finalist for the 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize. Her chapbook, Outsiders, was chosen by C.M. Burroughs as the winner of the 2015 Susan K. Collins/Mississippi Valley Chapbook Contest sponsored by the Midwest Writing Center. Along with Wendy Scott Paff and Daniela Buccilli, Pollard is co-editor of the Show Us Your Papers poetry anthology (Main Street Rag Press, 2020). Her collection of poetry, Nodes of Growth, is forthcoming in summer of 2026 from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. Yalonda JD Green, Ph.D., (she/her) is a transdisciplinary artist and librarian from Detroit. Her poetic work has appeared in Inkwell, TORCH, Reverie, Mythium, various anthologies, bus shelters, on stages, and other creative spaces. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem and the American Library Association Spectrum Scholars and residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center, Delaware Writers Retreat, and Bethany Arts Community. Her creative and critical work encircle the art, lives, and afterlives of Black women and their girlhoods. As a versatile performer, seasoned educator, and former children's librarian, Yalonda has gleefully joined musical collaborations, voiceover and improvisational projects, studio and stage work, documentary and indie film, youth music camps, children's shows, and many more community-enriching experiments. Often blending storytelling, improvisation, and song in her workshops, creative keynotes, performances, and teaching, JD is a vocal artist with the ensemble, Elevation, and a new member of Wilmington, Delaware's rich creative community. Curtis L. Crisler, Indiana Poet Laureate, was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. He received a BA in English, with a minor in Theatre, from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW, now PFW), and he received his MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His award-winning publications as well as his awards and fellowships are too numerous to list here. Crisler's work exhibits what he calls an urban Midwestern sensibility (uMs). What uMs exemplifies is "the community and creativity of the varied relationships of descendants from the first through second waves of the southern migration, exploring their connections to place/environment, history, family, and self." Also, he created the poetry form the sonastic and the Indiana Chitlin Circuit (a small circuit bringing writers to Ft. Wayne). Crisler is Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Contact him for readings, workshops, presentations, lectures, etc. at poetcrisler.com.
