Poet, essayist, and novelist Honorée Fanonne Jeffers will discuss the research and practice that led to her award-winning book of poetry The Age of Phillis (2020). This collection is based upon fifteen years of research on the life and times of Phillis Wheatley Peters (1753-1784), a formerly enslaved person who was the first African American woman to publish a book. Dr. Jeffers will discuss the connections between archival research and creative practice, and on the ways that early Americanist scholarship can benefit from engagement with contemporary poetry.
