Carla Blank

Carla Blank is an Oakland, California writer, editor, dramaturge and director. A collection of her essay writing, "A Jew in Ramallah and Other Essays " is forthcoming from Baraka Books November 1, 2024. She has written or edited five other non-fiction books. They include the anthology "Bigotry on Broadway (Baraka Books, 2021)," co-edited with Ishmael Reed; "Storming the Old Boys’ Citadel: Two Pioneer Women Architects of Nineteenth Century North America," co-authored with Canadian architectural historian Tania Martin (Baraka Books, 2014); and the 20th century historical reference "Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000 (Three Rivers Press, 2003)" which carries the imprimatur of Before Columbus Foundation. With Ishmael Reed, she co-edited the anthology "Powwow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience, Short Fiction , From Then to Now (Da Capo Books, 2009)," and was contributing editor on three other anthology projects edited by Ishmael Reed: "Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002 (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003)"; "MultiAmerica, Essays on Cultural Wars and Cultural Peace (Viking, 1997)"; and "Califia, The California Poetry (Y’Bird Books, 1979)". Her two volume anthology of performing arts techniques and styles, "Live On Stage! (Dale Seymour Publications, a Pearson Education imprint, 1997, 2000)," was co-authored with Jody Roberts. Still in print and widely referenced in U.S. and Canadian school districts, it is based upon forty years of collaborative performance projects with pre-schoolers through aged adults. Her essays on arts and culture have appeared in El Pais, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, Konch and Counterpunch.