Alexis De Veaux (born September 24, 1948) is a black, lesbian American writer and illustrator. She chaired the Department of Women's Studies, at the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. Her surname also appears as DeVeaux.

Life

She was born on September 24, 1948, in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. In 1976 De Veaux received her BA from

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

Empire State College Empire State College (SUNY Empire or ESC) is a public university headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Empire State College is a multi-site institution offering associate, ...

. De Veaux received her MA and PhD from the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. She wrote for ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' magazine, from 1979 to 1991.

Works

*''Na-Ni'', Harper & Row, 1973 *''Spirits in the street'', Anchor Press, 1974 *''Gap Tooth Girlfriends: An Anthology'', Gap Tooth Girlfriends Publications, 1981 *''Blue Heat: A Portfolio of Poems & Drawings, Diva Pub. Associates, 1985 *''This Far by Faith: A Writer's Autobiography'', State University of New York at Buffalo, 1989 *''Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday'', Writers & Readers Publishing, Incorporated, 1988, * *''Yabo'', Redbone Press, 2014

Awards

* 1972: Short story ''Remember Him, an Outlaw'' received National Black Fiction Award. * 1972: First prize from Black Creation for a short story. * 1973 best production award from Westchester Community College Drama Festival for ''Circles''. * 1974: ''NA-NI'' received Brooklyn Museum of Art Books for Children Award. * 1981: ''Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday'' appeared on the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults list. * 1981:

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

fellow * 1982: Unity in Media Award * 1984: MADRE Humanitarian Award * 1984: Fannie Lou Hamer Award * 1988: ''An Enchanted Hair Tale'' received American Library Association

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...

. * 1991: ''An Enchanted Hair Tale'' received Lorraine Hansberry Award for Excellence in Children's Literature. * 2005: ''Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde'' received the

Hurston-Wright Legacy Award The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program honors Black writers in the United States and around the globe for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organizatio ...

References

External links

* * 1948 births Living people University at Buffalo faculty University at Buffalo alumni Empire State College alumni 20th-century American women writers Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners LGBT African Americans LGBT people from New York (state) American lesbian writers American women academics 20th-century American writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American writers People from Harlem Writers from Manhattan Lesbian academics 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American LGBT people {{US-illustrator-stub