Melba Boyd

{{Infobox person

| name =

| birth_name = Melba Joyce Boyd

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|04|02}}

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, United States

| death_date =

| death_place =

| other_names =

| alma_mater = Western Michigan University;
University of Michigan

| known_for =

| occupation = Writer, editor and academic

| notable works =

| relations =

}}

Melba Joyce Boyd (born April 2, 1950) is an American writer, editor and academic, who is a significant figure in African-American poetry.Samuels, W. D. (2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2JpbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT168&lpg=PT168 Encyclopedia of African-American Literature], Infobase, {{ISBN|1438140592}}. She has authored 13 books and is a Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University.{{cite web |url=https://www.lsa.umich.edu/daas/people/ci.boydmelbajoyce_ci.detail |title=People | Department of Afroamerican and African Studies | University of Michigan |publisher=Lsa.umich.edu |accessdate=May 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429053615/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/daas/people/ci.boydmelbajoyce_ci.detail |archive-date=April 29, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} In 2025 she became the third poet laureate of the State of Michigan.{{cite web |title=Dr. Melba Joyce Boyd, Award-Winning Detroit Author, Named Michigan Poet Laureate |url=https://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan/about/library-press-releases/dr-melba-joyce-boyd-named-michigan-poet-laureate |website=michigan.gov |publisher=Library of Michigan |access-date=19 June 2025}}

Background

Born in Detroit, Michigan,{{cite web|url=http://bghra.org/boyd/|title=Melba Boyd {{!}} From Black Detroit to Green Bremen: Turning on the Axis of Transcontinental Radical Politics|website=BGHRA (The Black German Heritage and Research Association)|access-date=July 7, 2024}} Boyd completed bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Western Michigan University. During the 1970s and early 1980s, she taught English at Cass Technical High School in Detroit and at Wayne County Community College.{{cite book|editor1-last=Andrews|editor1-first=William|editor2-last=Frances Smith Foster|editor3-last=Trudier Harris|title=The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195138832|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095522398|accessdate=May 6, 2015|chapter=Boyd, Melba|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624101406/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095522398|archive-date=June 24, 2015|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} She earned a Doctor of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan in 1979. Boyd was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany from 1983 to 1984. She has held academic appointments at the University of Iowa, Ohio State University, the University of Michigan–Flint and Wayne State University.

Boyd is a former editor at Broadside Press, which was once the best-known American publisher of African-American literature. Some of her work has focused on the life of Dudley Randall, Broadside's founder.{{cite news|last1=Walters|first1=Wendy|title=Wrestling with the Muse: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press (book review)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-129811671.html|accessdate=May 6, 2015|work=Black Issues Book Review |via=HighBeam|date=March 1, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124318/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-129811671.html|archive-date=September 24, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} She was the recipient of the 2005 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Book Honor for Nonfiction for her book Wrestling with the Muse: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press.{{cite web |url=http://www.blacdetroit.com/BLAC-Detroit/August-2014/Poet-Melba-Joyce-Boyd-of-Wayne-State-University/ |title=Poet Melba Joyce Boyd of Wayne State University | BLAC Detroit |date=6 August 2014 |publisher=blacdetroit.com |accessdate=May 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505021201/http://www.blacdetroit.com/BLAC-Detroit/August-2014/Poet-Melba-Joyce-Boyd-of-Wayne-State-University/ |archive-date=May 5, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} She has written, produced and directed the documentary film The Black Unicorn: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press.{{cite web|title=Black Unicorn: Dudley Randall and Broadside Press|url=http://detroitcenter.umich.edu/news/2013/10/black-unicorn-dudley-randall-and-broadside-press|publisher=Detroit Center - University of Michigan|accessdate=May 6, 2015|date=October 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512052149/http://detroitcenter.umich.edu/news/2013/10/black-unicorn-dudley-randall-and-broadside-press|archive-date=May 12, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

Eight of her books are collections of poetry and she has won numerous awards for her poetry, one of which was a Michigan Council for the Arts Individual Artist Award. In 1997, Boyd wrote the official poem for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, which is inscribed on the Museum wall.[http://clas.wayne.edu/melbajoyceboyd Melba J. Boyd - Distinguished Professor & Chair] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505061915/http://clas.wayne.edu/melbajoyceboyd |date=May 5, 2015 }}. Wayne State University. Retrieved May 6, 2015. Boyd's poetry is often characterized by sharp, fragmented phrasing. Common themes include urban life and the divides created by class and race.