The Words Chats with Xavier Pittman ’24 about In Black Ink
By Sarah Tachau ’27
Over the past decade, The Twin Cities literary scene has been vibrant with young publishing houses springing up. By far one of the most influential in diversifying the community has been In Black Ink (IBI). The non-profit was founded in 2018 by the Minnesota Regenerative Publishing Project, with the mission of helping to “develop and advance the African heritage community in Minnesota in the publishing arts industry.” IBI does so by increasing the access of the publishing industry to Black authors and artists. A year ago, current Mac senior and Creative Writing major Xavier Pittman ’24 began interning with IBI. We had the pleasure of chatting with Xavier about his experience working with the trailblazing publishing house.
What do you do at IBI?
It’s a little bit of everything. I’ve worked on a few manuscripts for IBI, reviewing them and sending feedback to my employers. And I’ve also sent out emails, done communications, set up meetings, and let people know where certain things are at. I did write a press release for IBI, for Ethel Ray: Living in the White, Gray and Black.
When and why did you first get involved with IBI?
I got involved with IBI technically my senior year. I’m a fifth year now, but I was tired of working in the Leonard Center. It was very convenient to get stuff done sitting at a desk all day. I just happened to see IBI pop up as part of the English department’s list of internships that they sent out, and the title interested me. Their mission inspired me; I thought, “I need to be a part of this.” The mission is to spread Black history from the Twin Cities and make it more known. That’s something I strongly wish I had available where I’m from, in Houston, Texas. I don’t know anything about Black history there, and there’s probably a lot of people that feel the same in Minnesota and all over the country. So it felt very important that I be a part of this. And I’ve always wanted to use literature to change the world somehow. That’s a huge part of it. But it was kind of this spur of the moment thing that just feels like destiny.
Have there been any classes or professors at Macalester that you feel have prepared you to be a part of the greater literary community?
I’m not sure. I think in general, yes because I am able to think about what I’m reading and what I’m consuming very critically, and I’m able to help out in that way with analysis. With the press release, I was able to write about some of the things that I noticed with my fresh eyes, and I think my education at Macalester helped me in that sense. But I think, inspiration wise, I feel like there is a lack of Black professors here at Macalester. I only just had my first Black professor, like last semester, and I’ve obviously been here for quite some time. It’s just interesting, when you think about it. Throughout all of creative writing, like the whole department, there’s not a lot of professors of color, let alone Black professors. And so I guess I didn’t really have an opportunity for any of them to be like, “Hey, you should check this thing out.” You know, it took me a while for me to even know that Walter Greason worked here. I think that’s one thing Macalester could improve on.
Were you able to go to the Coffee House last year when IBI came to promote Karen F. Nance’s book on Ethel Ray Nance?
Yeah and it was kind of surreal, especially because in the book there’s a lot of poetry written by a former Macalester student that I had known and talked to. So it was kind of surreal seeing someone who I interacted with in the past already and realizing they’re published. But also surreal in the fact that I’m involved in it in general. I think literature and writing is creating new worlds. It’s also changing entire worlds that exist in higher minds. It’s really monumental.
Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on at IBI?
Working on the Ethel Ray Nance book was really special. I got to see a little bit of that whole process beforehand. I was working on another manuscript, which gave me an idea of what that process looked like before I jumped on the Ethel Ray project. From there, I got to go through the entire process of seeing the title page get designed through going on the book tours. We went to several places in Duluth and then came down here and toured several places in St. Paul and Minneapolis. We got to see all this history, like where Ethel Ray lived. We got to see a place where W.E.B. DuBois spoke. All of that was really special. In general I’m enjoying getting to know the Black community here and interacting with people more, just from the inherent fact that I’m working on these literary projects; they connect you with so many people.
Do you have any people involved with IBI you consider to be your mentors?
Absolutely. Rekhet and Anura Si-Asar, they’re the founders of IBI. I’ve looked up to them quite a lot. In many different aspects, like interacting with people, doing business, just going through life in general, they’re very helpful. In that sense, another person who is a celebrity here at Macalester and role model is Mahmoud El-Kati. He’s been really inspiring, he has so much wisdom to spread; you talk to him for a second and he’ll give you the entire history of anything. He’s touched many, many lives. He was also very influential at the University of Minnesota in creating the Black Studies Department, and he’s been part of all these different orgs too. It’s very inspiring.
What does the future hold for you at IBI?
Right now I’m still thinking that I’ll continue to work with IBI, maybe full time once I’m done with school. But at some point you do have to move on, and while I will always cherish the time I spent with IBI, I do want to take what I’ve learned and spread it elsewhere. I’d like to be part of the movements that I’ve read about and helped people know about with IBI. I don’t know when that goodbye would happen, but in some ways I will always work with them.
The Words would like to thank Xavier for sharing his experience in the Twin Cities literary community with us! We wish him the best of luck as in his English journey at Mac and beyond.