Woodrow BaileyBorn in New Orleans and raised in South Central (now South) Los Angeles, Woodrow Bailey's formal and nonformal education has prepared him to share the stories of those with no representation in society. He holds degrees from the University of Southern California and California State University Los Angeles. His village of families also prepared him to view the society we live in as opportunities to help others. Every aspect of this life is involved in serving others, and his documentation through poetic stories open a window into the souls of those who are considered cast offs and underserved. He has been writing in the form of journals for thirty-five years and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Mount Saint Mary's University Los Angeles in 2025. Furthering his education was crucial in taking his writing to the next level. Along with his education on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, this degree gave him the tools, skills and knowledge necessary to fully write and share stories about his environment, giving those with no representation a voice.Woodrow Bailey's first book, Freedom (Vagabond, 2022), looked at the concept of freedom and what cost it takes to have it on a daily basis. The anthology he edited in collaboration with Community Literature Initiative, 1619 Speaks, brought together African American poets and the poets that influenced them to write poetry. He recently published Take a L, which doesn't follow traditional poetry or writing trends. It's part of a larger series, "Prose in Their Environment", in which he documents, to put it simply, what those oppressed say and feel. Read More Read Less