In this episode, I sit down with Culture Bearer, Barbara Fant. Barbara Fant is a Columbus legend and what some may call an OG in the poetry world. She is a griot, the voice of so much here in Columbus, a curator, an educator, a healer, a visionary, an affinity space creator, and so much more. In this episode, I get to sit down with Barbara, during National Poetry Month and talk all things art, culture creation, healing, restoration, and bridge building. This episode has my heart incredibly full.
Paying due respect and homage to the true OG and Columbus Poetry Culture Bearer, Is Said as we honor his ancestral transition. He was a mentor to Barbara Fant. We also discuss the responsibility and sacredness of being dawned an Elder, what it means to do this in community and some of the poets that have impacted us the most.
Enjoy this full bio for Barbara Fant and you can check her out on IG and Twitter at:
IG & Twitter: @iambarbarafant
website: www.barbarafant.com
Barbara Fant has been writing and performing for over 15 years. She competed in 9 National Poetry Slam competitions, and she is a World Poetry Slam finalist. She is the author of two poetry collections, Paint, Inside Out (2010) and Mouths of Garden (2022). Her work has been featured in the Academy of American Poets, Electric Literature, McNeese Review, The Ohio State University Press, Button Poetry, and Def Poetry Jam, amongst others. She has received residencies in Havana, Cuba and Senegal, West Africa. For over 12 years, she had led healing informed poetry workshops for both youth and adults who are incarcerated, those in community, adults in recovery, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. She is certified as a Healing Centered Engagement specialist and holds both an MFA in Poetry and a Master of Theology. She is the founder of the Black Women Rise Poetry Collective and co-founder of The Senghor Project, West African International Artist Residency, and co-founder of We THRIVE Healing and Arts Collective.
This interview is timeless and will hold a lot of the nuances and complexities of culture bearing for years to come. Thank you Columbus, Ohio for connecting us, poetry for deepening our sisterhood, and community and God in us for aligning our hearts and mind.
