The Author

I first felt called to the practice of writing while trekking through apartheid South Africa and war-torn Mozambique. I was seventeen years old and my new surroundings bore little similarity to the Midwestern college town I had left behind. The journals I carried with me were my constant companions. Within their pages, I recorded the citizens and shanty towns and striking beauty of the surrounding landscape as well as the details of my internal dialogue on race, class, and identity.

This daily practice of journaling resulted in my first published book, To Dine with the Blameless Ethiopians. My writing continues to present literary landmarks of my journey. I encourage you to wander their rooms and inhabit a space that may be new, or all too familiar. Perhaps it will inspire you to create landmarks of your own.

Kemba Saran is a poet and playwright whose formal training as an architect infuses her literary work with imagery that is both visually striking and spatially conscious—a style that finds a perfect partnership with the stage. She received a Masters Degree in Architecture and Bachelor’s degrees in both Architecture and English Literature from the University of Michigan, but she considers her true education the introspection shaped by the experiences illustrated in her autobiographical play, A DRESS OF STEEL MESH.  Her work has been performed at Silk Road Rising in Chicago, and Northeastern Illinois University. Kemba has worked as a freelance writer, editor, and an architect. She currently writes plays, and works in the field of historic preservation, documenting the stories of historic buildings and the communities who inhabit them.