Additional information
by Sheila Smith McKoy (Author)
The Bones Beneath captures what it means to be American, Southern, diasporan, what it means to belong and not to belong, and finding many ways home. It transports readers across place and time, focusing on race and racism, health and healing, Africa and America, and mysticism and incantations. The poems call us to remember the histories we are coaxed to forget and opens pathways to understand our shared humanity. You will not leave this work without being changed and without understanding how and why there is hope for us to be better.
Author Biography
Sheila Smith McKoy, PhD is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy's research focuses on the relationships among Africa and African diaspora communities and cultures. A poet, a literary critic, and a fiction writer, she is author or editor of seven books, including her first book When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures (2001) and her poetry collection, The Bones Beneath (2024). The recipient of the 2020 Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Prize in poetry, she is co-author of One Window's Light: A Haiku Collection, a collaboration of five Black poets. A trained mediator and university leader, Smith McKoy specializes in restorative justice practices. A native of Raleigh, NC, she lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
