Claudia May, author of Birthing Butterflies
Poetry Category, sponsored by Wellington Management, Inc.
Each week leading up to the 37th annual Minnesota Book Awards, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
What inspired you to write this book – or inspired you while writing it?
The unacceptable scores of Black women who die during childbirth both grieves me and calls me to action. Several years ago, I came across an article about a group of Black female young adults who surrounded the statue of the nineteenth century surgeon, J Marion Sims. He practiced what I call medical butchery in the name of science advancement by experimenting on enslaved Black women who had suffered through painful labor that left them unable to control their bowel and bladder movements. These women endured painful surgical violations without the aid of anesthesia. Decades later, a group of courageous young Black female adults wore patient hospital gowns and splashed fake blood across their vagina and abdomen area. Circling J. Marion Sims’ statue, they demanded that his statue be removed and denounced the notion that he ought to be identified as the father of gynecology. These Black women’s tenacity helped me to give birth to Birthing Butterflies. Because of their advocacy, I conducted research and explored how the lives, human dignity, beauty, and courage of nineteenth-century enslaved Black women could be honored through a poetic lens.
Tell us about someone (whose name isn’t on the cover!) who proved instrumental to the creation of this book.
It takes a village to inspire, encourage, and support a writer. My mentors believed in my ability to write and created literary, dramatic, and intellectual spaces for me to flourish. I owe so much to Dr. Margaret B. Wilkerson, a specialist in African American Theater; the now deceased Dr. Barbara T. Christian, an expert in African American Literature; and the prolific poet June Jordan for nurturing my desire to write and perform my own works. My grandmother and mother taught me that a people who speak creole also speak poetry through the oral tradition. The presence of writers of the Black diaspora fuels my creativity. My ancestors breathe life into my words and enable me to abide in the worlds I create.
Please tell us something about yourself that is not widely known. (It doesn’t have to be about the book in question – or even about your writing at all!)
I discovered my first book written by a Black author in a library. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor opened me up to the power of Black representation, Black storytelling, and Black agency. So dazzled was I by Taylor’s writing that I wrote a letter to her proclaiming her work to be better than Shakespeare. I had never read Shakespeare, but I upheld her as my Black female bard – and a fierce one at that! And wouldn’t you know, Mildred D. Taylor wrote me back and graciously thanked me for sharing my thoughts with her. This exchange took place via snail mail before computers and emails were a thing. But even to this day, I hope to observe Taylor’s welcoming and tender presence when I interact with those who read my work.
Share your thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
Since a child, libraries have been a sanctuary for me. I embraced libraries as a sacred place, a safe cove, a magical entryway where I could sit and discover a new world of imagination and meaning through the reading of books. When I turned each page, the smell of each book comforted me. The musty aroma and soft stubble, yet slick feel of each page welcomed me into an interior home as the bustle of everyday comings and goings bristled outside.
Libraries threw me a lifeline when I needed intellectual stimulation and creative sustenance. Without the expertise and care of incredible research librarians I could not have completed my doctoral dissertation. Without the quiet hum simmering in library rooms, I could not have studied for exams, written academic papers, or produced creative pieces. Plush armchairs dotted around a library reading room enabled me to take naps while sun rays laced my face with their warmth.
I believe libraries are an essential conduit in our world where human connection can flourish. Libraries are the bastions of civic engagement. Countless librarians have positioned themselves as frontline observers of democracy, generators of liberty for all, and keepers of egalitarianism. For me, libraries are the gateway through which the beautiful and complex diversity of human beings can find solace in their becoming.
Claudia May is an educator, author, poet, and spiritual director. She is a specialist in African American and Caribbean Literature and theater, and Reconciliation Studies. She is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Community Engaged Learning at Bethel University.