Aurora Harris

I am an African American Filipina Poet, Educator, Activist, Students with Special Needs Advocate, and a Spoken Word Recording Artist. My poetry reflects social, political, and cultural issues; Detroit, MI; Family, Women, Labor, Global concerns, travels, and Jazz. As an amateur photographer, I write poems inspired by images and visual arts. I once described my poems as "snapshots of society and human condition" that I related to Durkheim's "anomie." The poems serve as a catalyst towards positive change or transformation and hope within a system of violences. My book of poems, "Solitude of Five Black Moons (2012)," co-published by Broadside Press and University of Detroit Mercy Press, is being scheduled for a second print by Wayne State University Press. As a board member of Detroit's Broadside Lotus Press and a co-founder of the Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies, I have provided a poetry series and poetry workshops for youth and adults that encourages analysis and connects history to daily lives. In the past, I taught poetry and performance poetry as a Poet In Residence in Detroit Public Libraries; for Detroit Asian Youth Project, Wayne County Juvenile Correctional Center, shelters,local coffee houses, middle schools and high schools in Detroit, and art galleries. Featured Readings include: The Last Poets, Jayne Cortez, Jessica Hagedorn, Emily Lawsin, Regie Cabico; Straight Ahead, Marion Hayden, Faruk Z. Bey, ML Liebler's Poetry Band, Teddy Harris, Marcus Belgrave, Blues man Robert Jones, and others. I am a former member and coach of Detroit National Poetry Slam Teams(1995-2004).Other readings: Michigan Radio (http://michiganradio.org/post/legacy-det...); selected poems from "Solitude..." to classical music with the CutTime Sinfonica(2014,University of MI-Dearborn), Ashland University Summer Writers Program (2014); Peace and Justice Studies Conference in San Diego, CA (2014), Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; spoken word with In The Tradition Jazz band at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH). Publications include anthologies and journals: Brooding The Heartlands: Poets of the Midwest, Tilting The Continent: Southeast Asian American Writing, Drum Voices Review, and Educational Studies: a journal of the American Educational Studies Association. I hold a B.A. in Sociology from Wayne State University and an M.A. in Social Foundations of Education from Eastern Michigan University. I am a Lecturer at The University of Michigan-Dearborn teaching Advanced Creative Writing, Composition,  African American History, and Literature courses.