I Write Because Of Everyday Shamans with poet and UNCA professor Mildred Barya

Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. James Navé here. Today, my guest is poet and UNCA professor Mildred Barya. is a North Carolina-based writer and poet of East African descent. She teaches and lectures globally and is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently The Animals of My Earth School, published by Terrapin Books in 2023. Her prose, hybrids, and poems have appeared in New England Review, Shenandoah, Joyland, The Cincinnati Review, Tin House, Forge, and elsewhere. She’s now working on a collection of creative nonfiction, and her essay, “Being Here in This Body”, won the 2020 Linda Flowers Literary Award and was published in the North Carolina Literary Review. She serves on the boards of the African Writers Trust and Story Parlor and coordinates the Poetrio Reading events at Malaprop’s Independent Bookstore/Café. She blogs here: www.mildredbarya.com