Haki R. Madhubuti is an award winning poet, author, and educator. Widely regarded as one of the architects of the Black Arts Movement (BAM), he is the founder and publisher of Chicago’s Third World Press, the oldest independent Black book publishing company in the world (1967). Madhubuti holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has authored more than 37 books and has been awarded five Honorary degrees. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Chicago State University where he founded and directed the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing. His poetry and teaching have been recognized by numerous awards, most recently the “Living in her Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award” given by the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in recognition of his lifetime of service and exemplary art activism.