Hettie Jones. Photo by Colleen McKay. Courtesy Hettie Jones.
Hettie Jones (born 1934) is an American poet. While perhaps best known as the former wife of Amiri Baraka (named LeRoi Jones at the time of their marriage), she has written and published several books of her own.
Life[]
Jones was born Hettie Cohen in Brooklyn, New York City. She earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Virginia, and did graduate studies at Columbia University.[1]
She held various clerical jobs at Partisan Review and started the literary magazine Yugen with her husband. Jones is currently on the faculty in the graduate program in creative writing at The New School in New York City.[2]
Jones is a former chair of the PEN Prison Writing Committee and is currently a member of PEN's Advisory Council.[2] From 1989 to 2002 she ran a writing workshop at the New York State Correctional Facility for Women at Bedford Hills, which included inmate Judy Clark as a student, and which published a nationally distributed collection, Aliens at the Border.[2]
While known for her poetry, she has also received acclaim for her memoir, How I Became Hettie Jones (published 1990 by Grove Press). It tells of her marriage and relationship with Baraka and her friendships with such popular Beat generation figures as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Frank O'Hara, Joel Oppenheimer, and Charles Olson, among others. A focal point of the work is also her struggle to find an identity, as an outcast of her Jewish family and the wife of a black artist during the Civil Rights era.
She and Baraka have 2 children, Kellie and Lisa Jones.
Recognition[]
Her 1997 poetry collection, Drive, won the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America.[3]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems Now. New York: Kulchur Press, 1966.
- Having Been Her (chapbook). New York: # Magazine, 1981.
- For Four Hetties (chapbook). IKON Press, 1995.[4]
- Drive: Poems. Brooklyn, NY: Hanging Loose Press, 1997.
- All Told. Brooklyn, NY: Hanging Loose Press, 2003.
- Doing 70. Brooklyn, NY: Hanging Loose Press, 2007.
Novel[]
- Mustang Country. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.
- You Light up My Life. New York: Pocket Books, 1979.
- No Man's Land: A novel (with Fielding Dawson). Sevastopol, CA: Times Change, 2000.
Non-fiction[]
- How I Became Hettie Jones. New York: Dutton, 1990; New York: Grove Press, 1997.
- Grace the Table: Stories and recipes from my southern revival (with Alexander Smalls). New York: HarperCollins, 1997; New York: Harlem Moon, 2004.
- Words, Walls, Wire: How To Start A Writing Workshop in a Prison (with Janine Vega). PEN American Center, 1999.[4]
- No Woman, No Cry (with Rita Marley). New York: Hyperion Books, 2004.
- From Midnight to Dawn: The last tracks of the underground railroad (with Jacqueline L. Tobin). New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Juvenile[]
- Longhouse Winter: Iroquois transformation tales). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1972.
- Coyote Tales: Native American legends (illustrated by Louis Mofsie). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974.
- Big Star Fallin' Mama: Five women In black music. New York: Viking, 1974. w
- revised & updated, New York: Viking, 1995.
- Living With Wolves (illustrated by Heather Cooper). New York: Macmillan, 1975. w
- Forever Young, Forever Free. New York: Berkley, 1976.
- How To Eat Your ABCs: A book About vitamins. New York: Four Winds Press, 1976. w
- In Search of the Castaways. New York: Pocket Books, 1978.
- Spooky Tales From Gullah Gullah Island (illustrated by Bradford, Brown). New York: Little Simon Books, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Edited[]
- The Trees Stand Shining: Poetry of the North American Indians (illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker). Dial Press, 197l, 1993.
- More In than Out: Poetry and prose from the Writing Workshop, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Bedford Hills, NY: Class Act, 1992.
- Aliens At The Border: Poetry and prose from the Writing Workshop, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. New York: Segue Books, 1997.
Hettie Jones Reads "Having Been Her"
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ "Hettie Jones," Academy of American Poets, Poets.org, Web, Jan. 22, 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.newschool.edu/writing/faculty.aspx?id=25472
- ↑ Bibliography, Hettie Jones, Sites.Google.com, Web, Jan. 22, 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hettie Jones, Grove Atlantic. Web, Oct. 14, 2014.
- ↑ Search results = au:Hettie Jones, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 12, 2014.
External links[]
- Poems
- Hettie Jones at the Academy of American Poets (1 poem, "Weather")
- Poetry: "Hard Drive," "Lament for a Turkish Suicide," "Weather".
- Prose
- Books
- Hettie Jones at Grove Atlantic.
- About
- Hettie Jones Official Website.
- "The Bride of LeRoi Jones," review of How I Became Hettie Jones at the New York Times
- Etc.
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