Haki Madhubuti

Born Donald Luther Lee in Little Rock, Arkansas, on February 23, 1942, Haki Madhubuti is a poet, essayist, and editor. He attended the University of Illinois and received an MFA from the University of Iowa.

Madhubuti is the author of more than twenty books, including Heart Love: Wedding & Love Poems (Third World Press, 1998); Groundwork: New and Selected Poems (Third World Press, 1996); Killing Memory, Seeking Ancestors (Lotus Press, 1987); Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions: Poetry and Essays of Black Renewal, 1973–1983 (Third World Press, 1984); Book of Life (Broadside Press, 1973); and Directionscore: Selected and New Poems (Broadside Press, 1971). His prose works include Claiming Earth: Race, Rage, Rape, Redemption (Third World Press, 1994); Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? : Afrikan American Families in Transition : Essays in Discovery, Solution, and Hope (Third World Press, 1990); Enemies: The Clash of Races (Third World Press, 1978); and Dynamite Voices I: Black Poets of the 1960’s (Broadside Press, 1971). He is, with Maulana Karenga, the coeditor of Million Man March/Day of Absence: A Commemorative Anthology (Third World Press, 1996).

The founder and editor of Third World Press and Black Books Bulletin, Madhubuti directs the Institute of Positive Education. Among his honors and awards are an American Book Award (1991) and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He formerly worked as a professor of English and director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University.