From the Ancestors Poems and Prayers for Future Generations
Thirty-five poets, musicians, singers, healers, curanderas, and shamans from twenty countries in seventeen languages share poems, songs, prayers, and blessings for future generations. Featuring uplifting, inspiring work by Joy Harjo (Oklahoma, US), Dr. Hilaria Cruz (Oaxaca, Mexico/US), Lorraine Currelley (New York City, US), Birgitta Jónsdóttir (Reykjavik, Iceland), Anne Waldman (New York City, US), Doris Kareva (Tallinn, Estonia), Iris Lican (Sintra, Portugal), Jaouad El Garouge (Morocco), Lee Pennington (Kentucky, US), Andy Willoughby (England), Aurélia Lassaque (France), Vesa Lahti (Finland), Aprilia Zank (Germany), J.M. White (Tennessee, US), Chryssa Velissariou (Greece), Bengt O Björklund (Sweden), Greta Render Whitehead (Kentucky, US), Giulio Tedeschi (Italy), Al Paldrok aka Anonymous Boh (Parnu, Estonia), Wilfred Hildonen (Norway/Finland), Gabor G Gyukics (Hungary), Amber T. Lee (New York City, US), Rani Whitehead (Kentucky, US), Brian Hassett (Canada), Seda Suna Uçakan (Turkey), Theo Dorgan (Ireland), Frank Messina (New Jersey, US), Tanya Lind (Iceland), Jeanette R. K. E. H. Aslaksen (Sápmi/Finland), Julie Easley (England), Eduardo Ritter (Brazil), and Ron Whitehead (Kentucky, US).Profits from this project will benefit Kentucky Refugee Ministries/KRM, a non-profit organization in Louisville, Kentucky dedicated to providing resettlement services to refugees and promoting self-sufficiency and successful integration. Ron Whitehead is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, organizer, scholar, professor. He grew up on a farm in Kentucky. He attended The University of Louisville and University of Oxford. As a poet and writer he is the recipient of numerous state, national, and international awards/prizes including The All Kentucky Poetry Prize, The Joshua B. Everett Scholar Award, English Speaking Union Scholarship, The Yeats Club of Oxford's Prize for Poetry. In 2006, Dr. John Rocco (NYC) nominated Ron for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2004, Ron was inducted into Ohio County High School's Hall of Fame, representing his 1968 graduating class. Ron's poetry has been published around the world in a diverse range of print and online publications from TRIQUARTERLY to ARTFORUM to BLUE BEAT JACKET to BEAT SCENE to SOUTHERN REVIEW to TRIBE magazine. Ron's work is held by museum, library, and private collections around the world. The University of Louisville Rare Books & Archives, directed by Delinda Buie, is the permanent repository for Ron's work. Several exhibits from the archives have been held, most recently "Poets, Rock Stars, & Holy Men: A Literary Renaissance Exhibit." Ron's poems have been translated into 20 languages. Ron has served as guest editor for magazines and anthologies, acted as poetry and arts judge in many contests, and has been the keynote speaker at art and music festivals around the world. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Louisville Literary Arts, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create vibrant spaces where writers and readers learn, grow, and connect. In 2019, he was appointed State of Kentucky Beat Poet Laureate by the National Beat Poetry Foundation (serving from 2019-2021), and he was named as the first US citizen and fourth world-wide writer-in-residence, UNESCO Tartu City of Literature international residency program, Estonia. Gabriel Walker is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, sound artist, audio producer, theatre artist, and educator whose work focuses on at risk people and cultures. He has been collaborating with, and producing work for actors, writers, dancers, painters, and musicians since 1983. He has an MFA in Theatre from Towson University in Maryland, an Inter-Arts BA from the Naropa Institute in Colorado, and Audio Engineering certificates from The Recording Workshop in Ohio. He has studied, taught, performed, and produced work in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, and Washington D.C. He currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky.