46 - Dante's Old South Radio Show (February 2023)

Kendel Hippolyte was born in Castries, St. Lucia, in 1952. In the 1970s he studied and lived in Jamaica, receiving a BA from the University of the West Indies in 1976. Hippolyte is the author of several books of poetry, including Fault Lines (Peepal Tree Press, 2012), Night Vision (Triquarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, 2005), and Birthright (Peepal Tree Press, 1997). Of his work, Kwame Dawes writes, “One gets the sense of a writer working in a laboratory patiently, waiting for the right image to come, and then placing it there only when it comes.” Hippolyte, who is also a playwright and a director, is known for writing in Standard English, the varieties of Caribbean English, and in Kewyol, his national language. He is the editor of Confluence: Nine St. Lucian Poets (The Source, 1988) and the author of several plays, including The Drum-Maker in 1976 and Triptych in 2000. With his wife, the poet Jane King, he founded the Lighthouse Theatre Company in St. Lucia in 1984. In 2000, Hippolyte received the St. Lucia Medal of Merit for his service in the arts. He is also the recipient of the Bridget Jones Travel Award and Minvielle; Chastanet Fine Arts Awards in both literature and directing, among other honors and awards. Hippolyte taught theater arts and literature at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College from 1992 to 2007. He lives in St. Lucia. www.poets.org/poet/kendel-hippolyte Wang Ping (she/her/hers) is a poet, writer, photographer, installation artist, founder and director of Kinship of Rivers project (www.kinshipofrivers.org). Her multi-media exhibitions include “Kinship of Rivers: We Are Water,” “Behind the Gate: After the Flood of the Three Gorges,” and hundreds of other installation exhibitions at schools, colleges, galleries, museums, lock and dams, confluences around the world, including the interactive installations at the Everest (Tibet and Nepal sides) and Kilimanjaro. She authored 15 award-winning books of poetry, prose, and translations, including the Minnesota Book Award, Eugene Kagen and Asian American Studies awards.She’s Professor Emerita of English at Macalester College. She is the recipient of NEA, Bush Artist Fellowship for poetry, McKnight Fellowship and Lannan Foundation Residency, Vermont Studio Art and many others. She received Distinct Immigrant Award in 2014, the Venezuela International Poet of Honor in 2015, and Minnesota Poet Laureate 2021-2023, appointed by the International Beat Poetry Foundation. www.wangping.com www.behindthegateexhibit.wangping.com www.kinshipofrivers.org Music by: Neal Francis: www.nealfrancis.com Warfield: open.spotify.com/artist/7FsYhkJR8zX4NeEqifNqDA?si=rnTxk0QCTzCSBO9BB8j5Eg Special Thanks Goes to: Mercer University Press: www.mupress.org Woodbridge Inn: www.woodbridgeinnjasper.com Autism Speaks: www.autismspeaks.org Mostly Mutts: www.mostlymutts.org The Red Phone Booth: www.redphonebooth.com Liberty Trust Hotel: https: www.libertytrusthotel.com The host, Clifford Brooks’, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics and Athena Departs are available everywhere books are sold. His chapbook, Exiles of Eden, is only available through my website. To find them all, please reach out to him at: [email protected] Check out his Teachable courses on thriving with autism and creative writing as a profession here: www.brooks-sessions.teachable.com