Yolanda Wisher (born 1976) is an American poet, educator and spoken word artist who focuses on the experience of being African-American. She is a graduate of Temple University and was selected as the third

Poet Laureate of Philadelphia Poet Laureate of Philadelphia is a civic position in the City of Philadelphia. The Poet Laureate has been described as an "Ambassador of Poetry". The holder of the position is expected to actively promote literacy and encourage expression in the c ...

in 2016.

Education and early life

Yolanda Wisher was born in Philadelphia and grew up in North Wales, Pennsylvania. She studied English and Black Studies, obtaining her BA in English and Black Studies from Lafayette College. She received her MA in creative writing from Temple University in 2000.

Career

Wisher taught English for various years at the

Germantown Friends School Germantown Friends School (GFS) is a coeducational independent PreK–12 school in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States under the supervision of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Fri ...

. She was the founder and director of the Germantown Poetry Festival, a local poetry event in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia from 2006 to 2010. From 2010 to 2015, she served as the Director of Art Education for the City of Philadelphia

Mural Arts Program Mural Arts Philadelphia is a non-profit organization that supports the creation of public murals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1986 as Mural Arts Program, the organization was renamed in 2016. Having ushered more than 3,000 murals into ...

. As of 2015, Wisher is a Founding Cultural Agent for th
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
In 2016, she was chosen as the third poet laureate of Philadelphia, following Sonia Sanchez (2012–13) and

Frank Sherlock Frank Sherlock is an American poet, and second Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. He was a 2013 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Life Frank Sherlock was the 2014-15 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, and a 2013 Pew Fellow in the Arts for Literature. His most re ...

(2014–15), respectively, and is a 2016 writer-in-residence at the Hedgebrook residency program for women writers.

Personal life

Wisher lives in Germantown with her partner Mark Palacio and their son Thelonius. She frequently plays music with her band "Yolanda Wisher and the Quick Fixx".

Works by Wisher

Books of Poetry * 2014: ''Monk Eats an Afro'', , OCL
8795289
Contributor to Anthologies *2007: ''The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South,'' OCL
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*2009: ''A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years'', , OCL
318878255
*2013: ''Gathering Ground: a Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade'', , OCL
62133808
*2013: ''Peace is a Haiku Song'' (ed. with Sonia Sanchez), OCL
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Wisher has also published in periodicals including ''American Poetry Review, Black Arts Quarterly, Chain, Drumvoices Revue, Fence, Hanging Loose, Melus, Meridians Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, nocturnes (re)view of the literary arts, Open Letter, Ploughshares,'' and ''POeP!.''

Awards and honors

Wisher was chosen as the poet laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1999 and later selected as the third poet laureate of Philadelphia in 2016, by mayor-elect

Jim Kenney James Francis Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who is the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia. Kenney was first elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey after winning the crowded Democratic ...

. She was a fellow of the Cave Canem Foundation from 1999 to 2000 and has published in their anthology ''Gathering Ground'' (2013). She received a Leeway Art and Change grant in 2008. and was the recipient of a Pew Center for Arts and Heritage grant for 2015.

References

External links

*
US Department of Arts and Culture – Imagining Germantown (2014)

Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisher, Yolanda African-American poets Lafayette College alumni Temple University alumni Writers from Philadelphia 1976 births Living people Pew Fellows in the Arts American women poets American spoken word artists Municipal Poets Laureate in the United States Poets Laureate of Philadelphia 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American women writers