Tennessee Reed, a poet and memoirist, grew up in Oakland and attended UC Berkeley. Reed, daughter of the novelist Ishmael Reed and the writer/choreographer Carla Blank, was diagnosed at an early age with several language-based learning disorders. She was never expected to read or write.

Despite this dire diagnosis, Reed not only went on to read and write, but published the first of her four books of poetry at the age of 11. She is also the author of … Continue reading »