Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks spoke with Steve Cape of Ohio-based literary magazine Artful Dodge in February 1979 during a poetry reading tour. She discussed her writing process, the difference between hearing poetry and reading it, and the state and future of black poetry in America.

On her approach to composing poetry, she said, “I try to use words that say what I want to say—not what one of our very famous European poets has said. This is very difficult because all of us American poets have been thoroughly brainwashed into believing that what has already been published is it!”

Additional Interview With Gwendolyn Brooks
Brooks talked about the black experience and black poetry, as well as her childhood and careers in poetry and higher education in 1994 interview with Black Issues in Higher Education editor B. Denise Hawkins.

To learn more about Gwendolyn Brooks, visit her profile on findingDulcinea.