In 2025, I went on sabbatical from my professorship at Cosumnes River College to research and help restore the legacy of author, poet, and playwright Joyce Carol Thomas. Her stories and poetry are filled with music, and her life should be lauded and celebrated. To that end, I created a new website for her along with social media tribute pages and numerous events to promote her writings and works inspired by them.

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Joyce Carol Thomas (May 25, 1938 – August 13, 2016) was an African-American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30 books of poetry, novels, and children's books.

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Born in Ponca City, Oklahoma and the fifth of nine children in a family of cotton pickers, her family moved to Tracy, California when she was a young child. She earned a B.A. in Spanish from San Jose State University and a master's degree in 1967 from Stanford University.

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Her novel Marked by Fire (1982) is a National Book Award winner.