New Orleans Griot ─ The Tom Dent Reader

A mid-twentieth century African American writer and cultural activist, Tom Dent worked tirelessly to help cultivate the Black Arts Movement, mentoring numerous other artists and writers. Taken from his papers held at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, this vital collection brings together Dent’s fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and drama, including many previously unpublished works. With introductions by Kalamu ya Salaam, New Orleans Griot: A Tom Dent Reader showcases the remarkable life and writing of Tom Dent, from his early days in New York to working with the Free Southern Theatre in Mississippi to his astute observations of New Orleans and the black Mardi Gras Indians.

Tom Dent was an African American poet, essayist, oral historian, dramatist, and cultural activist. He was one of the founders of the New York based Umbra Writer's Workshop, the first major post-sixties organization of Black writers. Dent also served as the associate director of the Free Southern Theatre, founded the New Orleans based Congo Square Writer's Union, and co-founded Callaloo, A Quarterly Journal of African and African American Arts and Letters. Kalamu ya Salaam is an American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher from the 9th Ward of New Orleans. A well-known activist and social critic, Salaam has spoken out on a number of racial and human rights issues.