Haki R. Madhubuti has been a pivotal figure since the 1960s in advocating a strong black literary tradition. He is the founder of Third World Press, the founder and director emeritus of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing, and the director of the MFA degree program in creative writing at Chicago State University. He is the author of "Claiming Earth: Race, Rage, Rape, Redemption" and "GroundWork: New and Selected Poems.
