How to Escape From a Leper Colony (28 page)

Thanks to the writer I know as Anexus Corban, who lent his name but bears no other resemblance to my Anexus. Thanks to my aunts, uncles, and cousins who have been champions always.

Every artist needs others who have come before and are willing to selflessly turn back to bring another along. I have been blessed to have Kathy Cambor, Vincent Cooper, Chitra Divakaruni, and Claudia Rankine.

To my loves: Eva Lorraine, Zachary Gundel, and Reggie McGarrah.

Finally and most, to my grandmother, Beulah Smith Harrigan—the one who told me stories.

TIPHANIE YANIQUE
is from the Hospital Ground neighborhood of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She was the Parks Fellow/Writer-in-Residence at Rice University and Fellow in fiction at Teachers & Writers Collaborative. She has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing and fellowship residencies with Bread Loaf, Callaloo, Squaw Valley, and the Cropper Foundation for Caribbean Writers. She is an assistant professor of creative writing and Caribbean literature at Drew University and an associate editor with
Post-No-Ills.
She lives between Brooklyn, New York, and St. Thomas.

This book is made possible through a partnership with the College of Saint Benedict, and honors the legacy of S. Mariella Gable, a distinguished teacher at the College.

Previous titles in this series include:

Loverboy
by Victoria Redel

The House on Eccles Road
by Judith Kitchen

One Vacant Chair
by Joe Coomer

The Weatherman
by Clint McCown

Collected Poems
by Jane Kenyon

Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship
by Nuruddin Farah:
Sweet and Sour Milk
Sardines
Close Sesame

Duende
by Tracy K. Smith

All of It Singing: New and Selected Poems
by Linda Gregg

The Art of Syntax: Rhythm of Thought, Rhythm of Song
by Ellen Bryant Voigt

Support for this series has been provided by the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation as part of the Warner Reading Program.

Book design by Connie Kuhnz. Composition by BookMobile Design and Publishing Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Manufactured by Versa Press on acid-free paper.