It gives me great pleasure to announce that HANDS IN CLAY is officially released! To attend the readings, check the events page, and feel free to let me know of other venues to consider. Copies are available via Bookshop / Barnes & Noble and Amazon
The world of Angela Carter and Nalo Hopkinson
I think one of the pleasures of great literature is to come to the end of a story and realize that you’ve read it before, but something ...
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Hands in Clay, a poetry collection
I’m thrilled to announce that my fifth full-length poetry collection, Hands in Clay, is forthcoming from Serving House Books (Fall 2025). I’m open to booking readings, guest teachings, interviews, writing workshops, and other creative/literary-related speaking engagements wherever the readers are gathered, so feel free to get in touch via [mildred.barya(at)gmail(dot)com] Praise for Hands in Clay […]
Day by Day the Path Clears
The path that’s made by walking, the writing that’s accomplished by practicing. The path gets clearer day by day within the tiny pockets of time; the accumulation of small moments that contribute to chipping away–one story at a time. The goal is to have a revised collection of essays by the end of the […]
One Celebration at a Time
A year ago, “Rituals of Home”, my essay from the creative nonfiction manuscript in revision was the Jacobs/Jones African American Literary Prize Runner-up. This year, I submitted to the contest a different essay, “Sing for the Women”, also from the same collection, Being Here in This Body. I was delighted to receive an email this […]
2024 Jacobs/Jones Runner-up
Sponsored by NCWN, the Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize honors the nineteenth-century writers Harriet Jacobs and Thomas H. Jones and is open to any Black and African-American writer whose primary residence is in North Carolina. The final judge of this year’s contest was DéLana R.A. Dameron. It’s a pleasure to see my new essay, Rituals of […]
Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2023!
Ribbons and badges! It’s such an honor and absolute delight to see THE ANIMALS OF MY EARTH SCHOOL on this remarkable list! I’m eager to dive into some of these alluring titles as soon as I clear my desk and begin wintering. With one click, you may access the full list
Review by Heather Swan: The Animals of My Earth School
“We can choose goodness.” I am absolutely honored and thrilled to share this riveting review of The Animals of My Earth School by the remarkable poet, teacher, and essayist Heather Swan, published in Terrain.org Once in a while a poet finds kinship with another poet and shares it with great wisdom and profound understanding. […]
Behind the Byline Interview with NER
Hello readers, I’m delighted to share my conversation with Meera Vijayann at New England Review. If you’re interested in cultural mythologies and how they may influence or inspire writers to create new works, read on here. The source of this interview is my essay, “Poetics of Transmutation”, published in NER Issue 44.3 Thank you for […]
The Animals of My Earth School
Released to the world on April 10, 2023 Copies available via Terrapin Books and all other bookstore outlets. In The Animals of My Earth School, Mildred Kiconco Barya gives us magnificent hungers and provocative feasts. Her poems tutor us via insects, mammals, birds, and reptiles in the slippages of time and place and the swerves […]
The Animals of My Earth School pre-order available from several outlets below
In the compassionate, playful, fable-like poems of The Animals of My Earth School, Mildred Kiconco Barya awakens us to the vividly singing, fully alive, non-human communities surrounding us. These poems demonstrate poetry’s unique ability to prick us from our self-involved numbness and awaken us to wonder. There is great solace, tenderness, and innocence here—the kind of innocence capable of […]
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MKB: Thank you so much! I would love to read yours too ...
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Brenda C Wilson: Congratulations! I hope to get a chance to read yo...
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Kwasi opoku: Why did Nana usually say that Adjoa did not know t...
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