1. References

Latorial Faison (born April 14, 1973) is an African-American poet, born Latorial De'prece Greene in rural Southampton, Virginia. A college educator, poet, author, and speaker, she is the author of eleven titles in poetry.

1 Life and work

2 Awards

3 Publications

3.1 Anthologies

4 References and notes

5 External links

Faison was raised by her grandparents, Samuel and Shirley Williams, in rural Southampton County, Virginia. She began writing at an early age. While a young student in Southampton County Public Schools, Faison won her first national essay writing contest with the company Stuart Hall as an eighth grader in 1986. As a student at Southampton High School, Faison was recognized in 1991 as WAVY TV-10's Young Achiever of the Year for achievement. She was Southampton County's First African American to win the Miss Franklin/Southampton County Fair in the summer of 1991.

In 1991, Faison attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where she completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and minored Religion. She read classical English poets like Shakespeare, John Donne, and Emily Barrett Browning to the well known African American poets like Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Count Cullen, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni. At the University of Virginia, Faison became a fan of the work of Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, Ntozake Shange, Sonia Sanchez, and Gwendolyn Brooks.

Faison married her high school sweetheart, Carl J. Faison (then a lieutenant in the U. S. Army), in 1995. While her new husband served in the U. S. Army overseas after their 1995 nuptials, Faison attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA, where she completed a Master of Arts Degree in English in 1997. While studying at VA TECH, Faison's poems, "Reformation," "Fast Girls," "Black Knight," and "To One Million Black Men," were published in literary magazines, To Earth from Venus and L'Attitude.

In 1996, the couple reunited and moved to Columbia, South Carolina where her husband was stationed at Fort Jackson military base. There Faison worked at the University of South Carolina and taught college English at Midlands Technical College and Coker College. Faison's first son, Carl II, was born in Columbia, SC. In 1999, the military moved them again to Charlotte, NC. At the age of 28 she published her first book of poetry, Secrets of My Soul, in 2001 two years after giving birth to her second son, Kendall, in Charlotte, NC. Faison's first collection featured notable poems like, "Fast Girls," "Pure Thought," "Real Woman," and "Black Knight." In Charlotte, NC, Faison taught in the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Schools and in the English Department at Johnson C. Smith University, a Historically Black College and University.

Faison moved to Killeen, TX, where her husband was stationed at Fort Hood Army base, where she worked for Central Texas College. While living in Texas, Faison published a chapbook, Realities, in which she voiced her expressions against the war in Iraq and joined 20,000 other poets in the U. S. in a Poets Against the War initiative led by poet Sam Hamill. Faison's husband served in Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, TX from April 2003 to April 2004. Her poetry, as a military spouse, attracted wide attention as it portrayed the struggles of military spouses in a time when anti-war views were prevalent in the United States. In Texas, Faison published her second poetry book, Immaculate Perceptions, in 2003, featuring such titles as "The Sounds of Blackness," "I Remember You Dr. King," and "Afghan Woman." Also, in 2004, Faison's creative nonfiction, "On Good Ground," was published in the NAACP Image Award Winning anthology, Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing and Hope from the Black Community edited by Tavis Smiley. In June 2004, Faison and her family moved to Fort Sheridan on the North Shore in Illinois.

In North Chicago, Faison published the first book of a trilogy collection, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Volume I. Some of her most notable poems, such as "Riding the Bus with Rosa Parks," "Slave Questions," and "The Sounds of Blackness," "Buffalo Soldiers," and "Reflections Eternal" came in these early collections teaching and celebrating Black History. In North Chicago, Faison taught at Robert Morris University and at Oakland Community College.

In 2006, Faison moved back to Virginia and was stationed at Fort Lee Army base on which she lived for six years. In 2008, Faison gave birth to her third son, Kaleb, and published the second book in the trilogy collection, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Volume II. This collection featured notable poems by Faison, such as "If These Trees Could Talk," "I Am," and "What If." While at Fort Lee, Faison taught at Richard Bland College and Virginia State University. In 2012, before moving overseas to South Korea, Faison published the third poetry volume in the trilogy collection, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Volume III. This third volume would introduce some of Faison's most widely read poems to date, "What is Black History?" and "Ruby Bridges' Brave Step."

In 2012, Faison moved to South Korea where she taught at Sejong University, one of the country's top higher education institutions. While living abroad in South Korea, Faison contributed to various poetry initiatives and anthologies. Her poem, "This" won The Watering Hole's M. Ayodele Heath Award, and she was a contributing author/poet to Electronic Corpse: Poems from a Digital Salon in 2014 edited by Heath. While living abroad, Faison released several poetic titles, including Kendall's Golf Lesson (a children's book), Love Poems, I Am Woman, flesh, and The Marriage Bed. Faison's poem, "Carrying Ashes," is featured in the anthology, Three Minus One: Storie of Parents' Love and Loss, edited by Sean Hanish and Brooke Warner and inspired by the film Return to Zero.

In 2014, Faison returned to the United States and taught at Northern Virginia Community College. She currently teaches Writing and African American Literature at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. In 2017, she released her eleventh poetry book, Mother to Sons, which includes such titles as "Black Boys," "This," "Freedom Ride," "When Ellis Plays His Saxophone," and "Blackness."

Some of Faison's poems have been adapted for the stage and performed by students, performance poets, and spoken word artists all across America. Faison's creative writing and poetry have been used in school curriculums and published by the Department of Defense and various notable literary magazine, journals, and news outlets in the U. S., such as Crab Orchard Review, STARS and STRIPES, Obsidian III: Writing in the African Diaspora, About Place Journal, The Chattahoochee Review, Deep South Magazine, Southern Women's Review, Poetry Quarterly, Chickenbones, Blackberry: a magazine, Kalyani Magazine, Underwired Magazine, Black Girl Seeks, Stonecoast Review, Mandala Journal, and others.

2019 Semi-finalist, Ohio State University's Wheeler Poetry Prize, The Journal

2018 Finalist, Furious Flower Poetry Prize at James Madison University

2014 M. Ayodele Heath Master Class Poetry Pick, The Watering Hole

"To Black Fire," The Dreamers Anthology: Dr. Martin Luther King & Hellen Keller

"Tragedies of Another Jerusalem," Hurricane Katrina Couldn't Break Us

"The Color of Sacrifice," Forging Freedom I

"One Last Risk," Forging Freedom II

"What is Poetry?" Poetic Gumbo

"The Face of Freedom," Freedom Verse

"On Good Ground," Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from the Black Community

References

• Bovington
• Bovington Camp
• Bovington tank museum
• Bovini
• Bovino
• Bovino (FG)
• Bovinum Problema
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• Bovis Homes Group
• Bovis Homes Group plc
• Bovisio-Masciago
• Bovis Lend Lease European Senior Masters
• Bovolenta
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• Bovornsak Uwanno
• Bovril boats
• Bovver boy
• Bovyne
• Bowali
• Bow and arrows
• Bow and arrow sign