Russell Atkins facts for kids
Russell Atkins (February 25, 1926 – August 15, 2024) was an American poet, playwright and composer from Cleveland, Ohio, known primarily for his contributions to avant garde poetry. He was born in Cleveland to Perry Kelly and Sarah Harris but was adopted by three woman named Mamie Belle Atkins, Willie Mae Allen and their mother. He was raised on Cleveland's east side and resided in the family home until 2010. He later moved to an assisted living facility and then to a nursing home named Algart Healthcare on the city's west side until his death.
Biography
Trained as a musician and visual artist, Atkins studied at Cleveland College, Cleveland Music School Settlement, Cleveland Institute of Music, Karamu House, and Cleveland School of Art.
His plays debuted in 1954. Following this, he founded Free Lance, A Magazine of Poetry and Prose in 1950 with his friend, Adelaide Simon, with the first issue containing an introduction by Langston Hughes. It attracted writers from all over the world, leading the now-defunct Black World to call it "the only Black literary magazine of national importance in existence." In 1959 Free Lance Press began publishing books, with a volume of poetry from Conrad Kent Rivers. Free Lance was under Atkins leadership for more than two decades, and allowed Atkins to correspond with writers from across the country.
In 2017 the City of Cleveland granted a portion of Grand Avenue the supplementary name "Russell Atkins Way" in his honor.
Atkins died on August 15, 2024, at the age of 98.
Works
Atkins was one of the first Concrete poets in the United States, arranging the words on the page to enhance poems' meaning. He was also an innovator in poetic drama. Much of Atkins' work was published in issues of The Free Lance a literary journal published by Free Lance Press of Cleveland, Ohio.
Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten introduced Atkins' work to magazines. Hughes read his poems at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, and Marrianne Moore read them on the radio in 1951.
Atkins' books include Phenomena (1961), Objects (1963), Heretofore (1968), Maleficum (1971), Objects 2 (1973) and Here in The (1976), which is Atkins' only full-length poetry collection.
