By Tara Betts

When there are poets with high demand for their work, even after their death, a family member or appointed person has to handle the many requests for work and guard the writer’s literary heritage against improper use.

Gwendolyn Brooks’ daughter Nora Brooks Blakely chose Nichole Shields to correspond with people for such requests because she wanted a detail-oriented person. Specifically, Shields handles permission requests to use Ms. Brooks work for various publications and projects. Some such requests include anthologies, CDs, setting her work to music and even a light and sound show at Chicago’s Field Museum.

Shields took a few moments to share her thoughts on handling Ms. Brooks’ literary legacy, working to build a Black literary community, Natasha Trethewey’s recent addition to the three previous Black Pulitzer Prize-winning poets (Brooks, Rita Dove and Yusef Komunyakaa), and some of her favorite poems and poets, including some by the great Ms. Brooks.

Tara Betts: How did you meet Ms. Brooks?

Nichole Shields: Having seen her on numerous occasions in the city of Chicago, my first up close and personal meeting with Ms. Brooks was in October 1991 in the lobby of ETA Theatre on the South Side of Chicago. Her book, Children Coming Home, had just been released and I eagerly spoke to her about my interest in writing and she signed a copy of the book to me. That book still sits on my desk, not just as a reminder of that day, but because I refer to it often when dealing with the numerous requests that I receive weekly for information, literary permissions, research and other things.

TB: Describe your involvement with the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University and other activities that you’ve been involved with in the Black literary community.

NS: In the past, my involvement with the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University was more on a voluntary basis, more or less around the time of the annual Gwendolyn Brooks Writers’ Conference.

My literary involvement in the Black community
spans many years and various aspects. In 1990, I
joined Empak Publishing Company in downtown
Chicago performing duties from basic customer
service to editing. From there, I opened my
own bookstore and gallery, specializing in books
and art created by Blacks. A few years later, I
closed my doors. The rising cost of operating a
bookstore, a specialty one was a financial burden.
Bookstores today are still facing some of those same
challenges.

A few more years down the road, I received recognition for a few of my published poems, authored a book entitled One Less Road to Travel, co-founded a literary collective and remained active on the literary scene.

On numerous occasions, I was involved with bringing writers together for various causes in the community. There was the 1997 24-hour PoetryThon that Gwen Mitchell of Third World Press, and performance poet G’eylah of Power of the Tongue put together to benefit the New Concept School founded by Haki Madhubuti. One of my favorite literary events was “I, Griot: Standing On the Shoulders of Giants.” On October 11, 2003, 110 black writers were present on the lawn of Third World Press. God, and our many ancestors shined on us. That was a great day.

TB: What exactly are your duties in handling Gwendolyn Brooks’ literary permissions?

NS: I handle the day-to-day reprint requests that we receive. Publishers, both mainstream and academic, seek permission to use the poetry, fiction, or nonfiction for all kinds of projects. There are numerous academic projects such as course packs, state and standardized assessment tests, custom collegiate anthologies, and similar projects that are continuous with their requests.

I review each request and create a contract for those that we will grant reprint rights to. There are other requests that we receive that are more intense than others. We receive book and other project proposals that will run the gamut from translations to theatrical and operatic productions.

Occasionally, there are times when I present uncertain requests to Nora Brooks Blakely and longtime employee Cynthia Walls of Brooks permissions. We, as a group, then determine if a certain project is in the best interest of the Estate, as well as the legacy of Ms. Brooks’ work.

I have worked with publishers in countries that I barely know, to writers wanting excerpts of Ms. Brooks work in their dissertations and other projects.

TB: What does it mean to be the “steward” over a
writer like Brooks’ work and legacy?

NS: It is a great honor, and it can be quite intimidating. In fact, shortly after I started with Brooks Permissions, a major New York publisher submitted a proposal that we all thought was a fantastic project, but there were many concerns. After making these concerns known to Nora and Cynthia, they made me–yes, made me–go back to these people and work it out.

Now, I had been on the job for only a few short months and I was still navigating my way around everything, holding prayer meetings with God, asking Ms. Brooks for some direction, asking God for a sign.

Then the pressure was on from the publisher, Nora and Cynthia were quite involved with Nora’s theatrical season with Chocolate Chips Theater Company and could not spare the time nor hold my hand through the ordeal. I had to do it. I had to go back to the publisher and say yea, nay, whatever.  The pressure was on. I cried for two days. I was working for one of the most-sought writers in my lifetime, and I felt quite unworthy and undeserving. I wanted out.

And then I called some more on God, Ms. Brooks, my ancestors, and my great aunts, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, who have walked with me through many things, and capped my nerves and made the phone call. It is quite unfortunate that both parties could not resolve the issues that were at hand, but that is a part of the business. As Kenny Rogers said, “You have to… know when to walk away and know when to run…” Life and business is a gamble, sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t.

TB: What particular projects have caught your eye
that would be using Brooks’ work now?

NS: One of the great projects coming up is Seasons: A Guide to Gwendolyn Brooks due to be released in Fall 2007. This book is especially important to me, and as one of the editors, it’s a great honor as well. Seasons is a compilation of published and unpublished works by Ms. Brooks that is didactic as well as entertaining.

Some of Ms. Brooks’ poetry is multi-dimensional, and this “guide to Gwendolyn Brooks” aspect of the book will assist readers by providing insight to her writings. Seasons of course, will be divided into four sections, each representing a season.

TB: What do you think Brooks might be writing about if she were alive in 2007?

NS: It’s kind of hard for me to say what she would write about, but you must believe that it would be timely and eloquently written, just as everything else that she has written.

TB: What’s your impression on Natasha Trethewey’s recent Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Native Guard, especially since Brooks was the first Black person and the first Black woman to receive the prize?

NS: Several thoughts crossed my mind. Out of 85 years of issuing this prize, Natasha is the fourth Black person. I happen to know a lot of poets of various ethnic groups, and although I, and some poets that I know, do not look for validation from others for our writings, the experience of receiving accolades for your creativity, especially when the Pulitzer is the highest accolade in this country, must bring forth emotions that one day I hope to express.

Trethewey’s Native Guard, along with Nikky Finney’s
Rice, Audrey Tolliver’s Aunt Willie Mae and Other
Poems, Gwendolyn Mitchell’s House of Women and
Kelly Norman Ellis’ Tougaloo Women each have a
special place in my library. These young women
writers and their southern voices are refreshing and
so very Gwendolyn Brookish.

TB: What’s your favorite poem by Gwendolyn
Brooks?

NS: Allow me poems please. My first response would be “The Life of Lincoln West” because to some degree, we are all Lincoln West, especially Black people in America. Similar to the way that the character in Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” proudly takes his place in a setting (America) that would like for us to believe that we are the lone, unlovable creatures of society. At that moment, Little Lincoln accepts that people who treat him as an inferior surround him. He accepts that he is human and lovable to himself, because after all, he is “the real thing.” Little Lincoln teaches us all a lesson, and what I have learned from little Linc, is whoever, wherever, whatever, self love and acceptance is most important to have.

But my all-time ultimate favorite Brooks poem I must say is “Jane Addams.” In that poem, Ms. Brooks clearly articulates about one of her heroines, how I, and so many others, view her, that “Giants look in mirrors and see almost nothing at all.” Now if that ain’t Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks…her praise of Addams in the poem notes her accomplishments and is heartwarming and admirable.

Other favorites are “Uncle Seagram,” “I am A Black,”
and “When You Have Forgotten Sunday,” which is
the ultimate love poem.