Biography

Natalie J. Graham is an award-winning author and performer who has toured nationally with her collection of poems, BEGIN WITH A FAILED BODY, selected by Kwame Dawes for the Cave Canem poetry award. From 2021-2023, she served as inaugural Poet Laureate of Orange County, California developing community-based initiatives that supported artistic development and engagement. Her current project, SEASON OF WOE, is a novel inspired by the people and legacies of the South. In this Afro-surrealist, literary fiction, Quinisha navigates a lush landscape replete with ghosts as she attempts to make sense of her place in a community that seems to have no place for her. Graham is also in post-production of documentary film with screenwriter and visual artist, Keya Vance. The film, I, TOO, is part of a legacy of artistic efforts inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem of the same title, particularly the turn Hughes makes in the last four lines: Besides,/They’ll see how beautiful I am/And be ashamed—/I, too, am America. The documentary highlights a series of 100 interviews with Black Men from Florida and California. These interviews create new narratives about masculinity, relationships, and freedom. A gallery of photos and quotes from the film can be found on Instagram @itoo2020.