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Shonda Buchanan

@shondabuchanan

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2026 BCALA WINNER-THE LOST SONGS OF NINA SIMONE; 2020 WINNER Next Generation Award-Black Indian: Associate Professor, WMU✨️

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"The woman closed her eyes as she danced around the pow wow circle, swaying with the thunderous beat of the drums, remembering all she'd gone through to get here..." The 2nd memoir I'm in the final edits on tells this story of the woman in this photo.My first memoir, Black Indian (@wsupress), explores the identity crisis of Afro-Indigenous folks, my family, our history is America, the beauty and hardships of a hyphenated existence and more. My second memoir in progress goes deeper into my journey finding heritage and ceremonies once lost to me/us, as I navigate relationships and travel the world. It's a ride, y'all and I'll be sharing except soon!My nations: I'm 11th generation Coharie, Eastern Band and Delaware Cherokee and Choctaw, and African from Sierra Leone and Senegambia, before colonizers renamed and disrupted us there too. Fam, we have to tell our stories, because if we don't, who will? Today, and every day, is a good day for BIPOC stories. Thanks to my cuz Ronnie for this awesome pic at the Pokagon Pow Wow! 📸 Happy Laborers' Labor Rest Day! Aho!💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫Shonda Buchanan, Writer/Associate Professor (WMU)Books: The Lost Songs of Nina Simone Black Indian Equipoise: Poems from Goddess Country Who's Afraid of Black Indians?www.shondabuchanan.com PBS BOOKS interview:https://www.thirteen.org/programs/book-view-now/2025-detroit-festival-of-books-interview-at-the-eastern-market-shonda-buchanan-jftphz/PEN America The Ten PEN interview: https://pen.org/shonda-buchanan-the-pen-ten/#write #writer #writers#memoir #memoirist#book #books #bookstores #bookstore#reader #readers#bookclub#beautiful #poems #writers #amazing #life#booksofinstagram #writersofinstagram #ninasimone#thelostsongsofninasimone#blackindian#shondabuchanan #hashtag#lol #professor by @shondabuchanan

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What an extreme honor to be featured on PBS Books talk show discussing my award-winning memoir Black Indian at the Detroit Book Festival!!Thank you to two incredible hosts and @pbsbooks Link to episode in my bio and here's the link line: https://www.thirteen.org/programs/book-view-now/2025-detroit-festival-of-books-interview-at-the-eastern-market-shonda-buchanan-jftphz/ Did you know I'm a DEIA expert?! Need me to come speak, read or lecture at your school, museum, library or community center for BLACK HISTORY MONTH, WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH OR POETRY MONTH as I promote my book, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone? Please DM and I'd love to do it!Forward ever, backward never💋Shonda Buchanan, Authorwww.shondabuchanan.com The Lost Songs of Nina SimoneBlack Indian; Equipoise: Poems from Goddess CountryWho's Afraid of Black Indians?*****************************#pbs #fun #beautiful #books #book#detroit #Michigan #loveyou #memoir#happy #joy #writersofinstagram #writer #poet #writers #shondabuchanan #poet #poetry #write #writer#author #thelostsongsofninasimone #blackindian #black #women#blackpeople #woman #blacklives #love by @shondabuchanan

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a year ago

Thank you @penamerica for this beautiful cover story/Q & A (PEN Ten) about my book, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, and hugs to my friend and colleague, Ayana O'Brien for making this happen! I've been involved with Pen America for the last 20+ years as a Pen Emerging Voices Fellow to work on my first novel, as an interim coordinator and now as a teaching artist and mentor for summer and fall mini-workshops. A writing community like this matters in so many ways💛🙏🏾and I so, so love LA writers!Read story here: Embodying Performance in a New Poetry Collection on the Life of Nina Simone - PEN America https://pen.org/shonda-buchanan-the-pen-ten/Speaking of LA and fierce poets...💋I'm reading poems from Lost Songs this Sunday night 7pm PT/10pm ET with a group of amazing LA poets via this Zoom link: Meeting ID: 759 9367 3202 (no spaces required) Password: poetryInvite link:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/ 75993673202?pwd= ZlBHVFE5WW56WXduM2Q2dG1Ha3M3dz 09Also reading one poem TONIGHT with an incredible roster of Los Angeles poets at @bblitarts as we say farewell to our former executive director, the incredible, cute, ever-charming Quinten Ring! Tonight at 7pm PT/10pm ET 🎉We're going to miss you, Quentin, but thank you for providing us with the super cool incoming poet/ED @jimmyvegaLink in bio or jump to Beyong Baroque's page or YouTube channel to join us!Reading links in bio! Hope to see you there!August is officially here, and POW! She begins... ♐️✨️Shonda Buchanan www.shondabuchanan.com #Friday #sunday #night #weekend#losangeles #poets #rock#beautiful #poems#thelostsongsofninasimone#my #amazing #life#booksofinstagram #ninasimone#fab #fabulous #goodmorning#goodvibes #happy#tonight #author #authors#writer #writers #joy #feelinggood #letsgo #beautiful #nice by @shondabuchanan

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a year ago

Sometimes life puts you in the path of someone who sees you and says, "How can help change your life for the best? Let's be excellent together." What a blessing to know you Karen @somersroad and I'm bringing her to Kalamazoo and @wmuenglish next spring to discuss her life as a filmmaker, her new documentary about Bill Strickland Centers and so much more!Thanks to @somersroad for your amazingly consistent, beautiful, inspiring support and friendship!😍😍❤️❤️Xo!! 💋💋💋Shonda Buchanan www.shondabuchanan.com #friendship#thankyou #friend#beautiful #happy by @shondabuchanan

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Thank you so much to everyone who came to my talk yesterday at Chautauqua Institution's African American Heritage House about The Hidden Heritage of Black Indians! @chq1874 @africanamericanheritagehouseFor those who don't know, Black Indian narratives and stories have been my scholarship for the last 25 years and is also woven into my memoir, Black Indian, published by @wsupress and available everywhere you buy your books💕🙏🏾 I love pulling out the history and giving lectures, presentations and readings about the incredible tapestry of Afro-Indigenous heritage, stories and identity. Thank you to the beautiful people, Kwame @kwamealexander Cousin Sean, Shelley, Danielle and everyone who helped make this happen! And thanks to @somersroad for her amazingly consistent, beautiful, inspiring support and friendship!😍😍❤️❤️Xo!! 💋💋💋Shonda Buchanan www.shondabuchanan.com #blackpeople#thankyou #blackauthor#beautiful #happy by @shondabuchanan

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Honored to contribute to, and celebrate my incredibly cool, kind and prolific homies @kwamealexander and Cousin Sean as co-directors of the @africanamericanheritagehouse at Chautauqua Institution! @chq1874 I'm giving a talk from my book, Black Indian✨️🥰 I'm ALSO so grateful to be teaching a poetry workshop T/Th and reading for the Literary Center! Thank you! @steph.ine amazing director of the Writing Center💕🙏🏾 Feeling blessed and abundant, fam!💫💫💫Shonda Buchanan, Writer/Associate Professor (WMU)www.shondabuchanan.com PBS BOOKS interview:https://www.thirteen.org/programs/book-view-now/2025-detroit-festival-of-books-interview-at-the-eastern-market-shonda-buchanan-jftphz/PEN America The Ten PEN interview: https://pen.org/shonda-buchanan-the-pen-ten/#write #writer#memoir #memoirist#book by @shondabuchanan

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5 days ago

Summer Poem for My Grandsons My joy starts here.Two boys sticky with sweet strawberry ice creamrunning down their arms, elbows, legs.Eyes glued to the Michigan horizonabove the crunchy cone.Sun going downan easy second wonder to the melting between their clever, clutched fingers. How does it happen:This love song for summer.This longing to eat allour fingers can hold,all of life,even as it disappears. (C) www.shondabuchanan.com #boys #summer#icecream #beach#beautiful by @shondabuchanan

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7 days ago

Such a water baby, even though I knew the sun was a smothered orange in the sky from the deluge of smoke, I jumped on the boat for the "sunset" cruise and keep my mask ready. Here's me in the act of trying to live a writer's life, a good life, within the reality of climate change, global warming and attacks on our environment. Isn't that who we are now? There's a poem or short story here. Maybe another memoir...Be safe out there, fam.Prayers for Canada🇨🇦 and all the wildfire victims in the US and abroad🙏🏾🪶💫💫💫Shonda Buchanan, Writer/Associate Professor (WMU)www.shondabuchanan.com PBS BOOKS interview:https://www.thirteen.org/programs/book-view-now/2025-detroit-festival-of-books-interview-at-the-eastern-market-shonda-buchanan-jftphz/PEN America The Ten PEN interview: https://pen.org/shonda-buchanan-the-pen-ten/#sunset #sun #writer #me #water by @shondabuchanan

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8 days ago

This day. This weekend. Family love and water and laughter and a pow wow and laughter and food. All the things.Life is so good💕🙏🏾#happy #joy#writers#poetry #beach by @shondabuchanan

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12 days ago

My weekend in Chicago. Simply the best time (I've been sleeping on Chi-Town!)The Lost Songs of Nina Simone is the 2026 BCALA winner! What an exciting honor to win this prestigious award from the Black Caucus American Library Association and to be on the roster with other amazing winners of this award💋💋@bc_alaThank you, Nina Simone, for your legacy, struggles and genuis! And to Lisa Simone for keeping your mother's legacy alive💕 @lisasimoneofficial Thank you READERS!!!Thank you, Black Librarians who chose my book as the 2026 Best Poetry book award winner. Thank you so very much to the first editor @codysiscowrites at Running Wild/RIZE Press @runningwildpressllc who selected this book. Thank you Running Wild Team for publishing my book, and all the bookstore, my readers and anyone who has brought me to give a reading!Today is a good day📚#happy #chicago#bookclubsofinstagram #poetry #tuesday by @shondabuchanan

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Shonda Buchanan was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She is an award-winning educator and memoirist, the author of Black Indian, chosen by PBS NewsHour as a “Top 20 books to read” to learn about institutional racism, and The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, which won the 2026 Black Librarians Caucus American Library Association’s Poetry Award. Be sure to follow her here:IG: @shondabuchananshondabuchanan.comWe are honored to feature Shonda’s work as part of The 250 Project: Volume One. More details soon! Scheduled arrival: July 4th.Follow us to find out how to get your copy.#shondabuchanan #thelostsongsofninasimone#BlackIndian#250Anniversary #ComingSoon by @shondabuchanan

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I'm such a kid when I'm excited🤣 It's the OBAMA CENTER!I'm feeling blessed and abundant to have visited such an incredible place---the Obama Presidential Center and Library in Chicago AND to hang with librarians, some of my favorite people! This is history in the making, y'all🙏🏾💕 I'm so grateful to be alive to see this, celebrate the Obamas and their work, AND one day give a poetry reading at the Obama Library!@barackobama @obamalibrary @michelleobama @chicago @chicagopubliclibrary💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫Shonda Buchanan, Writer/Associate Professor (WMU)www.shondabuchanan.com PBS BOOKS interview:https://www.thirteen.org/programs/book-view-now/2025-detroit-festival-of-books-interview-at-the-eastern-market-shonda-buchanan-jftphz/PEN America The Ten PEN interview: https://pen.org/shonda-buchanan-the-pen-ten/#beautiful #writer #poet#memoir #book by @shondabuchanan

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