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Author // Filmmaker // Professor
M.K. Asante, Jr., 25, is a college professor and award-winning author/filmmaker who the Philadelphia Inquirer calls, "a rare, remarkable talent that brings to mind the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance."
Asante's first book, Like Water Running Off My Back, won the Academy of American Poets Jean Corrie Prize for its title piece. His second book, Beautiful. And Ugly Too was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a thought-provoking journey down the lonely road of wisdom and whiplash." His latest book, It's Bigger than Hip-Hop, is forthcoming from St. Martin's Press.
Praised by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Fuller as "one of the most important writers of his generation," Asante has written for USA Today, Tampa Tribune, Black Arts Quarterly, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others.
Asante wrote and produced the internationally-acclaimed film 500 Years Later, winner of Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival and Bridgetown Film Festival; Best Film at the Black Berlin Film Festival; Best Int'l Documentary at the Harlem Int'l Film Festival; and the Breaking the Chains award from UNESCO.
Asante recently wrapped-up production on "The Black Candle," a film which he co-wrote with renown poet Maya Angelou, who also narrates the film.
Asante, Jr. studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, earned his BA from Lafayette College, and an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA's School of Film and Television.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Philadelphia, Asante is International Spokesperson for the African Diaspora Medical Project, a non-profit medical relief organization that develops health-related initiatives in Africa.
Asante is on the faculty of the Department of English and Language Arts at Morgan State University.
San Francisco Chronicle
"We Are The Post Hip-Hop Generation"
Tampa Tribune
"Gulf Coast Relives Epic Tragedy"
USA Today
"Enough Disrespect: Return rap to it's artistic origins"
M.K. Asante Website
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
Maya Freelon
Democracy Now!
Language Arts
Lawrence C. Ross, Jr.
500 Years Later
It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop (St. Martin's Press, 2007)
Beautiful. And Ugly Too (Africa World Press, 2005)
Like Water Running Off... (Africa World Press, 2002)
500 Years Later
Focused Digizine