The Dark Room Collective, Then and Now
The Dark Room Collective, a community of black writers founded twenty-five years ago in Boston by poets Thomas Sayers Ellis and Sharan Strange and musician Janice Lowe, regroups this year for the Nothing Personal reunion tour. This slideshow offers a look at the early days of the DRC as well as a glimpse of the poets today.
Dark Room Collective, 1989
The DRC on the steps of their home base, a Victorian house on Inman Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
DRC Motto: Total Life Is What We Want
A flyer announcing the DRC's 1992 reading series in Boston.
DRC Then
Dark Room Collective founders Sharan Strange (left) and Thomas Sayers Ellis (top) with (left to right) Patrick Sylvain, Trasi Johnson, John Keene, and Janice Lowe.
DRC Today
A group of DRC members on tour in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. Left to right: Tracy K. Smith, John Keene, Kevin Young, Tisa Bryant, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Major Jackson, and Natasha Trethewey.
DRC Winter
An archival shot of DRC members (left to right) Major Jackson, Natasha Trethewey, Thomas Sayers Ellis, and Sharan Strange.
Early Lineup
DRC poets (left to right) Tisa Bryant, Danielle Legros Georges, Sharan Strange, Patrick Sylvain, Trasi Johnson, John Keene, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Donia Allen, and Della Scott.
Funky Right Now!
A flyer for the DRC reading series in 1993.
Natural Collaborators
Left to right: Natasha Trethewey, Kevin Young, Sharan Strange (top), Adisa Vera Beatty (bottom), Nehassaiu deGannes, and Major Jackson strike a pose.
Poet Laureate, Then
An archival shot of the newly appointed U.S. Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey.
Poet Laureate, Today
Natasha Trethewey in 2012, just a few months before she was named poet laureate.
Poetic Kinship
Sharan Strange and Nehassaiu deGannes in the DRC's early days.
Poetic Kinship Revisited
DeGannes and Strange in 2012.
Pulitzer Winners Confer, 2012
Among the numerous honors DRC writers have received is the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Tracy K. Smith and Natasha Trethewey have both won the award, Smith (left) in 2012 for Life on Mars (Graywolf Press, 2011) and Trethewey in 2007 for Native Guard (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006).
Reconvening in Springtime
Left to right: John Keene, Major Jackson, and Kevin Young today.
The Original Crew, Today
The original DRC trio (left to right): Sharan Strange, Janice Lowe, and Thomas Sayers Ellis in Washington, D.C. in 2012.