Willow Books, the poetry division of Aquarius Press, proudly announces a groundbreaking poetry collection, Thunder in Her Voice: the Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Lita Hooper. The book¿s official release date is March 15, 2010, but you can preorder your own copies today.About Thunder in Her Voice:In 1850, Olive Gilbert helped Isabella Baumfree (Sojourner Truth) pen her slave narrative, Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. The book provided a detailed account of Truth¿s life as a slave and the horrific conditions enslaved African Americans were forced to withstand under the brutal system of chattel slavery. Thunder in Her Voice examines the heroic life of Sojourner Truth through verse. Each excerpt from the slave narrative is reflected in poetry as Lita Hooper walks us through Truth¿s life, providing portrayals of Truth¿s friends, family members and enemies. The poems offer an intimate look into the life of one of America¿s most important abolitionists.Advance Praise for Thunder in Her Voice:¿Rather than a series of revisions, Lita Hooper¿s elegant poems in Thunder in Her Voice: the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, are striking illuminations that take us beyond the ¿facts¿ of Sojourner¿s life and into the ¿truth¿ of her thoughts, her fears, her hopes and her prayers. Hooper¿s genius lies in her capacity for empathy and her ability to write a poetic line of such simplicity and grace that it turns even the most harrowing facts into beautiful laments of pain and hope. This is a great way to encounter the humanity behind all historical narratives.¿--Dr. Kwame S.N. DawesLouise Fry Scudder Professor of EnglishDistinguished Poet in ResidenceDirector of the South Carolina Poetry InitiativeDirector of the USC Arts Institute¿Lita Hooper in Thunder in Her Voice breathes in Sojourner Truth's life and breathes out a testimony concerning the "inherited agony" that was slavery. Hooper's anointed poetry resonates with spirit-filled voices sounding a universal prayer for freedom and self-determination.¿ --Joanne Veal Gabbin Furious Flower Poetry CenterJames Madison University About the AuthorLita Hooper, Associate Professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College, earned an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Colorado and a D.A. in English and Humanities at Clark Atlanta University. She has produced and written for the stage, and her poetry has appeared in various publications. She is the author of the critical biography Art of Work: The Life and Art of Haki Madhubuti and co-editor of 44 on 44: Forty-Four African American Writers on the 44th President of the United States. Ms. Hooper is a Cave Canem Fellow and an Emerging Artist Grant recipient of the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs.

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