Mari Fitz-Wynn will present her book RISE UP! Poems of Protest, Poems of Praise.
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ABOUT THE BOOK: RISE UP! Poems of Protest, Poems of Praise
RISE UP! Poems of Protest, Poems of Praise is a collection of powerful poetic imagery braided together from the poems of a grandfather born to parents who were enslaved and the poetry of his granddaughter. As one voice, each poem reflects the rich legacy of this African-American family.
“The poems… speak wisely to our time and ask us to attend with eyes and hearts wide open, to hear two voices from two generations plead for justice, truth, faith and beauty.
One is an older voice calling from the last century, the voice of a grandfather, Andrew Wilbert Fitz, born in 1895. Like the poetry of his day, his writing is old-fashioned in its diction and rhyme schemes, but the grim subjects of war, racism, injustice, and hypocrisy as well as brighter subjects of beauty and human achievement are contemporary and reveal his keen intelligence and depth of insight.
The other voice, his granddaughter’s, Mari Fitz-Wynn, is lighter, sweeter, with lines that sing and celebrate her God and her African-American ethnicity. But the poems admit shadows, too…It’s remarkable how aptly the poems of each author call and respond to each other and will surely speak to us. Mari Fitz-Wynn gave us a wonderful gift by selecting her grandfather’s poems from his three published volumes and matching them with her own work. I can imagine him rising us to applaud this treasure of a book.”
-Suzanne Underwood Rhodes, Poet Laureate, Arkansas and author of Flying Yellow
“RISE UP! Poems of Protest, Poems of Praise is a metaphorical offering of a wellspring of solidarity that our world needs. These pages help us drink fully of the possibilities of laughter knowing that weeping dehydrates the body; reminding us that we are the water bearers of hope.”
-Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mari Fitz-Wynn
Mari Fitz-Wynn is a nonfiction author, novelist and sought-after speaker whose talents have carried her across the globe. Her works include Take Heart: 26 Steps to a Healthy Home School, Connect the D.O.T.S. and most recently, her debut poetry collection, RISE UP! Poems of Protest, Poems of Praise is her third book to be published. In 2018, she received a prestigious United Arts Professional Development Literary Grant for her upcoming novel, The Secret of Faith, scheduled for publishing in 2023. She was honored in April 2022 during National Poetry Month to have one of her poems selected to appear in the ExperieNCe Poetry! 30 days of poems by 30 N.C. writers. Mari has written numerous articles for various women’s magazines and her state’s home education magazine. She has written litanies and poems for years, several of which have appeared through Engage Worship in the U.K.
An editor and writing coach with twenty-five years of experience, she is the Founder and Managing Editor for Faith Journey Publishing, a company dedicated to creating pathways to publishing for Women of Color over the age of forty-five.
Becoming an author caught Mari by surprise. She had never planned on a writing career, nor did she expect to enjoy writing as much as she has. Twenty-five years ago she penned her first story. Today she is still passionate about capturing in words, stories and poetry the people she meets and places she visits.
In addition to writing, Mari enjoys reading, spending time with her adult children, pursuing ministry at her local church, and finding clever ways to train her seemingly untrainable dog, Ducky.
Learn more about Mari at: https://marifitzwynn.com/