Opal Palmer Adisa Ph.D is a writer of both poetry and prose, photographer, curator, professor, educator and cultural activist, Adisa has lectured and read her work throughout the United States, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Germany, England and Prague, and has performed in Italy and Bosnia. An award-winning poet and prose writer Adisa has fourteen titles to her credit, including the novel, It Begins WithTears (1997), that Rick Ayers proclaimed as one of the most motivational works for young adults. She has been a resident artist in internationally acclaimed residencies such as El Gounda (Egypt), Sacatar Institute (Brazil) and McColl Center, (North Carolina) and Headlines Center for the Arts (California, USA). Opal Palmer Adisa’s work has been reviewed by Ishmael Reed, Al Young, and Alice Walker (Color Purple), who described her work as “solid, visceral, important stories written with integrity and love.”
Following in the tradition of the African "griot" Opal Palmer Adisa, an accomplished storyteller, commands the mastery and extraordinary talent of storytelling, exemplary of her predecessors. Through her imaginative characterizations of people, places and things, she is able to transport her listeners to the very wonderlands she creates.
Curator and photographer, her photographs have been published and exhibited in the US, Egypt, North Carolina and Brazil.
A gifted diversity trainer, literary critic, and proud mother of three accomplished children, Opal is the former parenting editor and host of KPFA Radio Parenting show in Berkley, California. She currently write The Graduate Parent for the “Healthy You,” website and writes a bi-monthly poetry column for The Daily News, STT. Adisa has published hundreds of articles on different aspects of parenting, writing and poetry and is currently writing a book on effective parenting.
A full professor of creative writing and literature in the MFA program at California College of the Arts, where she teaches in the Fall. She has been a visiting professor at several universities including, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and University of the Virgin Islands. Her poetry, stories, essays and articles on a wide range of subjects have been collected in over 400 journals, anthologies and other publications, including Essence Magazine. She has also conducted workshops in elementary through high school, museums, churches and community centers, as well as in prison and juvenile centers.
PUBLISHED WORKS:
4-Headed Woman, poetry, Tia Chucha Press, 2013
Incantations & Rites (with devorah major) poetry, 2013
Painting Away Regrets, novel, Peepal Tree Press, 2011
Caribbean Erotic, anthology (co-edited with Donna Aza Weir-Soley), 2010
What a Woman Is, poetry with painting by Shyam Kamel, 2010
Amour Verdinia, poetry, chapbook, The Literary Leaf/Deconstructed Artichoke Press, 2009
Conscious Living, poem, chapbook, The Literary Leaf/Deconstructed Artichoke Press, 2009
I Name Me Name (poetry collection), Peepal Tree Press, 2008
Until Judgment Comes (short story collection), 2006
Eros Muse (poetry and essays), Africa World Press, 2006
Caribbean Passion (poetry collection) Peepal Tree Press, 2004
The Tongue Is a Drum (poetry/jazz CD with Devorah Major), 2002
Leaf-of-Life (poetry collection) Jukebox Press, 2000
It Begins With Tears (fiction novel) Heinemann, 1997
Tamarind and Mango Women (poetry collection) 1992
Fierce Love (poetry/jazz recording with Devorah Major),1992.
Traveling Women (short story collection), 1989
Bake-Face and Other Guava Stories (short story collection), 1986
Pina, The Many-Eyed Fruit (children’s book) 1985
EDITOR:
ProudFlesh, Riding The Waves of Caribbean Women, poetry, prose, essays and art, 220 pages, Issue 8, 2013.
The Caribbean Writer: Ayiti/Haiti, Volume 25, journal of poetry, prose, personal narrative, interview and book reviews; translated into French 640 pages, 2011.
The Caribbean Writer, Volume 24, journal of poetry, prose and essays, 420 pages, 2010.
AWARDS/HONORS:
Rick Ayer’s Great Books for High School Kids (A Teacher’s Guide to Books that Can Change Teens Lives) Ranking, It Begins With Tears, 2004
Creative Artist Fellowship: Storytelling, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, 2002-2003.
Nominee, Poet Laureate for the State of California, 2002
CA. Arts Council 3-Year-Multicultural Program Grant, Daughters of Yam, 2001-2005
Distinguished Writer Award, Middle Atlantic Writers Association, 1998.
CA. Creative Work Fund Grant, West Oakland Senior Citizen Oral History Project,1998-1999.
Nominee, International Woman of the Year, 1996-97, International Biography Center, England.
Canute A. Brodhurst Prize, "The Brethren," (story) in The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, St .Croix, April 1996.
Caribbean Writer Summer Institute Award Recipient, University of Miami, FL. 1995.
PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award Winner, Tamarind and Mango Women (poetry collection), 1992
