Draft:Lois Elaine Griffith

Lois Elaine Griffith (b. 1947) is a writer and an artist, known for work that combines verbal and visual elements and that reflects her Afro-Caribbean roots. As one of the Nuyorican Poets’ Café's founding members, she was also a working board member for several decades. She continues to advocate for the historical recognition of the Café’s founding members and cultural contributions, through projects including a Ford Foundation Fellowship at the Schomburg Center and the Nuyorican Poets Café Archive Project.

Born to parents from the West Indies, Griffith grew up in Brooklyn. She attended Barnard College for her undergraduate degree, with classmates including Ntozake Shange. Griffith was in attendance at Barnard during the infamous 1968 protests at Columbia University, and is featured in Paul Cronin’s anthology, A Time to Stir. After her 1969 graduation, Griffith enrolled in the MFA program in Visual Arts at the Pratt Institute. In 1971, she traveled to Italy to study art with Professor Licio Isolani, Isamu Noguchi, and Jacques Lipchitz. Other important influences in her early art practice were artists Sal Montano and Arthur Coppedge.

After meeting Miguel Algarín in 1973 at the Tin Palace, Griffith became involved in the newly-founded Nuyorican Poets Café. When the Café moved from Miguel Algarín's living room to a new location on 6th Street (formerly the Sunshine Bar), Griffith worked behind the bar. There, she would meet many important influences in her life, including the photographer Tony Gleaton. Griffith also encountered many poets from Umbra and the Black Arts Movement, including David Henderson (a friend of Pedro Pietri) and Amiri Baraka, the latter of whom was close with Algarín.

In 1978, Griffith illustrated and designed (with artist Mary Wagner) Ordinary Women: Mujeres Communes: An Anthology of Poetry by New York City Women that was edited by Sara Miles with an introduction by Adrienne Rich. With the encouragement of Miguel Piñero, who introduced her to The Public Theater, she also began writing plays—including “White Sirens,” a one-actor play that was featured in the Shakespeare Festival.

In the early 1990s, Griffith joined the board of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and managed the booking of the calendar for nearly two decades during which time she was also a professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Griffith stewarded some of the most influential and public-facing years of the organization, during which the Café became a prominent place for the development of slam poetry, Hip Hop, and jazz forms, and one of the most popular open mic evenings in New York City.

She published a novel, Among Others, in 1998. She also co-edited Action: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Theater Festival anthology in 1997 with Miguel Algarín. Recently, with Karen Jaime and Joseph, she co-edited Memorias de Miguel: The Hard Work of Love and spearheaded the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Founders Archive Project, hosted at the Hemispheric Institute. Griffith continues to live in Brooklyn where she is writing her recollections of the early years of the Nuyorican Poets’ Café.