Mona Lisa Saloy of New Orleans rises as Louisiana’s Poet Laureate poetry, writing and storytelling woven throughout her life’s story
30th August 2021 · 0 Comments
By Nayita Wilson
Contributing Writer
Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy is a distinguished poet, folklorist, and Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Professor of English at Dillard University whose love for New Orleans’ Black creole culture exudes from her life’s work and artistry. Saloy’s contributions span book publishing, essays, play writing, scholarship, short fiction and features in several screenplays and films.
She received national honors in 2006 when she was commissioned to write and orate original poems honoring U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush and William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton as recipients of the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal. Fifteen years later, her beloved Louisiana has extended esteemed literary honors.
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) and Gov. John Bel Edwards named Saloy Louisiana’s poet laureate – a two-year appointment that started in August 2021. During this appointment, she will travel throughout the state to encourage residents to engage with poetry.
It’s a major life marker for Saloy and a responsibility that will come naturally for the New Orleans native who found her purpose in writing beyond the Jim Crow era, after the loss of her mother during her teenage years, post a traumatic health incident and with the support of mentors and friends who fanned the flames of a writing spark that was kindled in her youth.
“I was a swimmer. . .I wanted to be a medaled swimmer for the Olympics, but it was the end of Jim Crow, and that was not allowed. So, I couldn’t make the trials,” Saloy recalled. “As a matter of fact, my coach was a Dillard graduate – Victor Vavasseur – who was actually a famous golfer in his day. He trained me in swimming, and I was a medaled swimmer. Nobody beat us – the girls at Hardin Park.”
[Hardin Park is nestled in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward community. The Seventh Ward is home to Saloy. Her family settled there, her family’s home is there, it’s where she resides, and it’s from there that she emerges as a cultural bearer for the state.]
“I was born and raised in New Orleans in the Seventh Ward in the heart of the city – our beloved Crescent City. My people go back a few hundred years,” said Saloy who inherited her writing and storytelling gifts from both sides of the family.
On her maternal side, there was “Papa,” Saloy recounts of her grandfather, Frank Fitch. Fitch was born enslaved in Alabama and walked to Louisiana for freedom. He was a cement finisher, bricklayer, Baptist minister and a co-founder of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which was located on N. Robertson Street in New Orleans until that community was devastated during Hurricane Katrina.
“We got the storytelling from him,” Saloy said, reflecting on how she and her cousins spent a lot of quality time with their grandfather during their early to pre-teen years.
“He didn’t read or write, but he knew the Bible by heart,” she said.
On her paternal side, Saloy’s great grandfather came from a lineage of French merchant seaman (one who married a Black woman), and hard work became a way of life for the family.
It was Saloy’s father who stirred her appetite for research by requiring her to use dictionaries and encyclopedias to find answers to the questions she often asked. He was the first writer Saloy encountered, as he often wrote eulogies, produced correspondence on behalf of families who solicited his help, and wrote communications for individuals who could not read or write but needed assistance getting work.
The writing seed was taking root.
But with professional swimming off the table, Saloy set her sights elsewhere: clothing design.
Both Saloy’s mother and maternal grandmother were seamstresses, and they taught her how to sew, embroider and crochet. For Saloy, the storytelling and craftsmanship were a part of her family and worked “hand-in-hand.”
“Nothing was ever wasted. We didn’t have a lot. Of course, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know we were poor, but they were extremely creative and resourceful,” she said.
That resourcefulness paid off.
“Initially, I sewed my way through my degrees,” Saloy said.
In the 1970s, Saloy enrolled in the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle at the insistence of her elder sister, but she hadn’t found her true passion. Then, she said she married young, slowed studies to a halt, and worked to support her then-husband’s dream of a law career. After six months of marriage, her life came to a halt following a debilitating car accident, which resulted in several years of physical and memory challenges.
During Saloy’s recovery period, her physician encouraged her to write to remember, and this became a pivotal moment in her life as a writer. Those notebooks became the birthing room for many of her oral stories. Family members became the historians of her life prior to the accident with stories of how she wrote often as a child.
She found relief and awakening at a coffee shop next to her student apartment where she and her husband lived at the time. A group of college students used to gather at the coffee shop to read their poetry. Saloy frequented the gatherings. “You sound like a writer,” they told her, while encouraging her to re-enroll in the university.
That group of writers eventually introduced Saloy to their teacher, renowned poet, writer and memoirist Colleen McElroy who became Saloy’s mentor. “She (McElroy) showed me how to become a writer. She taught me writing and literature – especially Black – that I didn’t know existed,” Saloy said.
Saloy went on to earn a bachelor’s in English and creative writing/poetry from the University of Washington. She later earned a master’s in creative writing (poetry) from San Francisco State University and both a master’s in fine arts (drama and fiction) and doctorate degree (English and Folklore) from Louisiana State University.
She has taught thousands of U.S. and international students in various literature and English courses at higher education institutions in California, Seattle and Louisiana, including City College of San Francisco, Laney College (Oakland), University of California Berkeley (Upward Bound), Louisiana State University, University of Washington, Seattle, and Dillard University where she has been a part of the faculty since 1991.
“What I do at my HBCU feeds my soul and spirit because I get to educate generations,” Saloy said.
While at Dillard, she has secured funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, UNCF/Mellon Foundation, Louisiana Board of Regents, Title IX and LEH to enhance the support of English and creative and writing initiatives. Her contributions helped increase the enrollment among English majors and led to the launch of the “Dillard Review, a Journal of Arts & Letters” that’s written and produced by Dillard students.
In addition to her contributions in academia, Saloy has authored two poetry collections: “Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems” and “Red Beans and Ricely Yours: Poems.”
Most of her work and research are centered on New Orleans’ Black Creole culture. “It’s unique. It resonates. We founded jazz. Soul food is now cuisine . . . even our lingo,” Saloy said. “We suffer so much appropriation. I want to tell of the joy of our culture – the uniqueness of our culture and what resonates.”
The theme for Saloy’s tenure as Louisiana’s poet laureate is “Louisiana cultures loving words.” She will be available for public programs, readings and workshops during this period.
“My goal is to encourage,” she said.
This article was originally published in the August 30, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
