Latorial Faison
Filed under: Authors
Latorial Faison is a poet, writer, and Assistant Professor of English and Department Chair of Languages and Literature at Virginia State University. Faison is a native of rural Southampton County, VA, who holds a BA in English with a minor in Religious Studies from UVA, a Master's in English from VA TECH, and a doctoral degree in Education from Virginia State University. Her writing explores Black Southern traditions, womanhood, and memory as well as the intersections of race, culture, and identity. Faison has been nominated for Poet Laureate of Virginia and is a recipient of the 2023 Permafrost Poetry Prize for her poetry collection, Nursery Rhymes in Black, published by University of Alaska Press (July 2025). Her most recent collection, Blood at the Root, was published by Finishing Line Press (November 2025).
Dr. Faison is a Veteran Sr. Military Spouse whose life work as an educator has included teaching in public school and on the post-secondary level. She has held faculty and administrative positions at various colleges and universities in the US and abroad for over two decades. Faison, a twice Pushcart Prize nominee, has been awarded fellowships from AWP, VA Humanities, and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have been anthologized and published in Callaloo, Obsidian: Literature & Art in the African Diaspora, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, West Trestle Review, AUNT CHLOE, Penumbra, Artemis, The Southern Poetry Anthology, About Place Journal, Southern Women's Review, RHINO, Deep South Magazine, Stonecoast Review, Solstice, Poetry Quarterly, Virginia's Best Emerging Poets, The Path, Cultural Homefront, The Poetry Society of Virginia's 80th Anniversary Anthology, Ruby's Lyric, and award-winning books Three Minus One inspired by the film Return to Zero, and the NAACP Image Award winner Keeping the Faith. Faison has collaborated with military-serving schools to edit and publish junior writing anthologies.
A recipient of the Tom Howard Poetry Prize (see below), Faison has been a finalist for the CAVE CANEM Poetry Prize, the Louise Bogan Poetry Award, and the North Street Book Prize, as well as the Gwendolyn Brooks, RHINO, Wheeler, Stevenson, and Hudson Poetry Prizes. She is the author of poetry books Mother to Son, I Am Woman, flesh, LOVE POEMS, Secrets of My Soul, Immaculate Perceptions, and the Amazon Kindle best-selling trilogy collection 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History. Faison is also the author of historic research, The Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Experience in Southampton County, VA, and children's books Kendall's Golf Lesson and 100 Poems You Can Write. She is a Life Member of the historic Wintergreen Women Writers Collective, The Poetry Society of Virginia, and the College Language Association. Faison is married with three sons and two daughters-in-love.
Website: http://www.latorialfaison.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latorialfaison/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latorial30/
Winning Entry: Mama Was a Negro Spiritual
Contest Won: Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2018, First Prize, Tom Howard
Winning Entry: A Shroud for Mother’s Day
Contest Won: Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2025, Honorable Mention, Tom Howard
