Poet Patricia Jabbeh Wesley to Speak at Ellis
On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 7 p.m. poet and activist Patricia Jabbeh Wesley will read from her poetry and describe her personal experiences as a survivor of the Liberian civil war. Her talk, which takes place at The Ellis School, is free and open to the public.
Dr. Wesley’s talk is part of The Ellis School’s annual Women of Wisdom and Courage series in honor of Women’s History Month, and is meant to inspire the next generation of women writers and activists.
Dr. Wesley will spend the day with Ellis students encouraging them to use their writing to call attention to social injustice, tyranny, and violations of human rights.
“The Women of Wisdom and Courage speaker series was founded to inspire young women to believe in the power of writing as a force of truth and change,” said Dr. Norma Greco, English Instructor and Outreach Coordinator at Ellis and organizer of the series. “We present a woman writer and activist, who has had the courage to challenge political oppression and injustice in her homeland through her writing.”
Dr. Norma Greco founded the Women of Wisdom and Courage series in 2010 in honor of International Women’s Day. Past writers have included Khet Mar (Burma), Sonali Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka), and Moniru Ravanipur (Iran).
About Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
http://www.pjabbeh.com
Dr. Wesley, who immigrated to the United States in 1991, is the author of four books of poetry: Where the Road Turns, (Autumn House Press, 2010), The River is Rising (Autumn House Press, 2007), Becoming Ebony, (SIU Press, 2003) and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa (New Issues Press, 1998). In 2013, she published her first children’s book, In Monrovia, The River Visits The Sea (One Moore Book Publishers, 2013). Her fifth book of poetry, Biography, When the Wanderers Come Home, is forthcoming in the spring of 2015.
She has won several awards and grants, including the 2011 President Barack Obama Award for her writings from Blair County NAACP, the 2010 Liberian Award for her poetry, a Penn State University AESEDA Collaborative Grant for her research on Liberian Women's Trauma stories, a 2002 Crab Orchard Award for her Becoming Ebony (her second book of poems), an Irving S. Gilmore Emerging Artist Grant from the Kalamazoo Foundation, and a World Bank Fellowship, among others.
Dr. Wesley has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and English from Western Michigan University; a Master of Science degree in English Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and a BA in English from the University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia.
She is a regular, featured poet and study-abroad faculty and speaker both in the U.S. and internationally, and her poetry has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers and scholarly publications worldwide. She has also published dozens of individual poems and memoir articles in many U.S. and international journals and anthologies, including in the New Orleans Review, Crab Orchard Review, English Academy Review of South Africa, The Prometeo Magazine, Bedford/St. Martin’s Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking, 2nd & 3rd editions, among others. Patricia also owns and manages a popular blog, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley’s International Blog on Poetry for Peace.
She is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State University’s Altoona campus. She is presently working on a memoir of her Liberian civil war experience.
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Dr. Wesley will spend the day with Ellis students encouraging them to use their writing to call attention to social injustice, tyranny, and violations of human rights.
“The Women of Wisdom and Courage speaker series was founded to inspire young women to believe in the power of writing as a force of truth and change,” said Dr. Norma Greco, English Instructor and Outreach Coordinator at Ellis and organizer of the series. “We present a woman writer and activist, who has had the courage to challenge political oppression and injustice in her homeland through her writing.”
Dr. Norma Greco founded the Women of Wisdom and Courage series in 2010 in honor of International Women’s Day. Past writers have included Khet Mar (Burma), Sonali Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka), and Moniru Ravanipur (Iran).
About Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
http://www.pjabbeh.com
Dr. Wesley, who immigrated to the United States in 1991, is the author of four books of poetry: Where the Road Turns, (Autumn House Press, 2010), The River is Rising (Autumn House Press, 2007), Becoming Ebony, (SIU Press, 2003) and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa (New Issues Press, 1998). In 2013, she published her first children’s book, In Monrovia, The River Visits The Sea (One Moore Book Publishers, 2013). Her fifth book of poetry, Biography, When the Wanderers Come Home, is forthcoming in the spring of 2015.
She has won several awards and grants, including the 2011 President Barack Obama Award for her writings from Blair County NAACP, the 2010 Liberian Award for her poetry, a Penn State University AESEDA Collaborative Grant for her research on Liberian Women's Trauma stories, a 2002 Crab Orchard Award for her Becoming Ebony (her second book of poems), an Irving S. Gilmore Emerging Artist Grant from the Kalamazoo Foundation, and a World Bank Fellowship, among others.
Dr. Wesley has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and English from Western Michigan University; a Master of Science degree in English Education from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and a BA in English from the University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia.
She is a regular, featured poet and study-abroad faculty and speaker both in the U.S. and internationally, and her poetry has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers and scholarly publications worldwide. She has also published dozens of individual poems and memoir articles in many U.S. and international journals and anthologies, including in the New Orleans Review, Crab Orchard Review, English Academy Review of South Africa, The Prometeo Magazine, Bedford/St. Martin’s Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking, 2nd & 3rd editions, among others. Patricia also owns and manages a popular blog, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley’s International Blog on Poetry for Peace.
She is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State University’s Altoona campus. She is presently working on a memoir of her Liberian civil war experience.
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