Erika Dickerson-Despenza

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a poet-playwright and cultural-memory worker from Chicago, Illinois. Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist (2021), Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award (2020), Grist 50 Fixer (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Currently, Erika is developing a 10-play Katrina Cycle, including hieroglyph and shadow/land, focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in and beyond New Orleans.