Liberian Literary Magazine
Our Spotlight author
this issue is poet
international acclaim,
scholar and a woman
many passions-
of
of
a
of
Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
Author Interview
PATRICIA JABBEH WESLEY
Liberian Literary Mag
conducted an interview
with
Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
LLR: First, we would like to
thank you for granting this
interview. Let us kick off this
interview with you telling us
a little about you- your early
childhood,
upbringing,
education.
I am Patricia Dawanyeno
Marie Jabbeh Wesley, from
the
small
village
of
Tugbakeh,
Maryland
County in South Eastern
Liberia. I grew up in
Monrovia. I went to college
during late 1970s at the
University of Liberia, a
decade that shaped me
into what I am today
politically. My father was a
strong influence on me, my
education and upbringing,
a hard man, but an
educated
man
who
wanted his daughter to be
very educated. He sent me
to live in his hometown, and
gave me the tools I needed
March Issue 0315
to become an authentic
African
writer,
the
knowledge
about
the
Grebo culture.
I began writing at a very
early age, before I was a
teenager, and have since
written poetry and stories. In
high school, I wrote poetry
and short story for our
school magazine at CWA,
the College of West Africa,
and in college, I continued
writing. I obtained my
Master of Science in
Education from Indiana
University-Bloomington, and
there, I also played with
writing. For my Ph.D., I finally
decided to return to my
poetry roots, and got a
doctorate in English and
Creative Writing with a
poetry writing emphasis,
producing my second book
of poetry straightly during
my four years in the Ph.D.
program. My dissertation,
Becoming
Ebony,
my
second book of poems won
the Crab Orchard Award in
2002, a national award,
before I defended that
dissertation, and that book
was published in (2003,
Southern Illinois University
Press). My first book, Before
the Palm Could Bloom:
Poems of Africa, published
in (1998 New Issues Press)
was already getting rave
reviews.
I went on to publish two
other books of poetry: The
River is Rising (Autumn
House Press, 2007) and
Where the Road Turns
(Autumn House Press, 2010).
19
I
also
published
one
children’s
book,
In
Monrovia, the River Visits
the Sea (One Moore Book,
2013).
I have a new book of
poems,
When
the
Wanderers Come Home,
not really on the horizon,
but
coming
out
in
November
from
the
University of Nebraska Press,
under the Africa Poetry
Book Series. On the horizon,
I have several books on the
horizon or on my computer,
being edited, etc.
I am a mother of four
wonderful children, BesieNyesuah, Mlen-Too II, Gee,
and Ade-Juah Wesley, that
I still devote my time to
taking care of even though
they’re all grown. My
youngest, soon to graduate
from college, and my last in
college, is my big children’s
project until she is on her
own like the rest. My
husband is Mlen-Too Wesley,
married for over 35 years.
I am a professor of English,
Creative
Writing
and
African Literature at Penn
State University, teaching at
its Altoona campus in
Central PA. One of my
many passions is teaching
and
molding
young
people, so besides being a
writer, I love my job as a
teacher. I have taught at
the University of Liberia,
taught from 1980 to 1990,
and have taught at other
US universities prior to
moving to Penn State
University, where I have