Biography
Born in Canada, Zetta Elliott moved to the US in 1994 to pursue her PhD in American Studies at NYU. Her poetry has been published in several anthologies, including Show Us Your Papers, New Daughters of Africa, and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South; her first young adult poetry collection, Say Her Name, was published by Little, Brown in 2020. Her most recent picture book, A Place Inside of Me, was named a 2021 Notable Poetry Book by the National Council of Teachers of English. Her verse novel Moonwalking (co-authored with Lyn Miller-Lachmann) is a 2022 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Elliott is an advocate for greater diversity and equity in children's literature; her work moves Black subjects from the margins to the center. Elliott’s mentor poets include Lucille Clifton and Mary Oliver; she compulsively composes haiku. Elliott lives in Chicago, IL. Learn more at zettaelliott.com.
Micro-interview
I recall being forced to recite "In Flanders Fields" in the sixth grade; an enrichment program in the eighth grade had us reading Robert Frost's poetry. I honestly don't recall reading any poetry in high school, which is sad, and I only studied British literature in university. Wordsworth was definitely a favorite of mine.
I'm not sure I do think of myself as a poet! I remember writing a terrible tribute poem for my grandfather as a teenager...I became more serious about poetry once I moved to the US and discovered Black women poets like June Jordan and Nikki Giovanni.
To reduce life to its essence so that it is recognizable and accessible to a broad range of readers; to tell the truth.