Photo Credit: Sheila L. Prevost

Poet and college professor Tony Medina's life changed after he read Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon for a book report in the ninth grade. It was then that he began reading everything that he could get his hands on. His voracious reading eventually lead him to write and to win his first poetry contest in the 12th grade.

Mr. Medina has published four volumes of poetry, including Emerge & See, and has edited two anthologies. His new anthology, Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Art and Literature, is forthcoming from Third World Press. Mr. Medina's work has been featured in many anthologies, including In the Tradition, Aloud, and Identity Lessons. Also to Mr. Medina's credits are three children's books, Christmas Makes Me Think, Deshawn Days, and Love to Langston.

It is Mr. Medina's passion for literature that motivates him to use his children's books to promote literacy and solidarity among urban youth. At the 25th Annual Poetry and the Children Day event hosted by Harpur College of Binghamton University, Mr. Medina told about 400 students from the local schools the following: "When we watch TV, we all get the same impression, but when we read a book, we all get something different because we add our imagination. Be grateful for your early start in poetry."
Tony Medina lives in Harlem, New York.