Honorée Fanonne Jeffers on Telling Human Stories Through Poetry

March 10, 2021

At the Oklahoman, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers discusses her collection of poetry, The Age of Phillis, which imagines the life of poet Phillis Wheatley, honoring her rich legacy and painting a picture of a vivid inner life. “Poetry can be real because you can imagine something,” Jeffers says,”but it’s based on reality…Nearly every woman that gives birth to a child loves that child. You don’t have to make that up, right? That’s the way it is; that’s the human story.”

is a writer and illustrator. She is the author of two illustrated books, Last Night's Reading (Penguin Books, 2015) and Sanpaku (Archaia 2018).