Description
Whiting in her book And What Would You Say if You Could? leads us on a journey of history, grief, beauty, and what it means to come of age as a Black woman in this country. "The world and its past and present happenings are not always things of beauty," writes Whiting. "Racism. Sexism. Colorism. Slavery. Violence. Death. Yet, these often-unspeakable things are importantly spoken in the most beautiful but damning words.
About the Author
Born in New York and raised in Nashville, Haviland Nona Gai Whiting is a 2019 United States Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador, the 2019 Southeast Region Youth Poet Laureate, a 2019 Semi-Finalist for The National Student Poets Program--a collaboration of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the 2018 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate, and a 2018-2019 recipient of the Dr. Martin D. Jenkins Scholar Award for Highly Talented and Gifted Black Children from the National Association of Gifted Children. She sits on the Nashville Mayor's Youth Council, in addition to participating in the Global Scholars Program at the Harpeth Hall School for girls and young women where she is in her senior year. In 2019, Haviland won the Scholastic Art & Writing Award Silver Medal for Poetry as well as an Honorable Mention for Fiction, and a 2018 Gold Medal. She was awarded the Concours National de Français Silver Medal by the American Association of Teachers of French. Her work appears in Nashville Arts Magazine and in At Least I know My Neighbor's Name: 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate Anthology published by Penmanship Books. An honor roll student, Haviland is the First Chair Cello in Harpeth Hall's Upper School Orchestra, serves as a school student ambassador, a staff writer for LOGOS, the Harpeth Hall School student newspaper, and contributes literary works to Hallmarks: Art & Literature from the Upper School. In her spare time, she pursues photography, ballet, and is represented by AMAX Models
