Best-selling author and accomplished playwright Pearl Cleage has produced several novels, plays, essays, articles, and more. She is also a contributing writer to Essence magazine and frequently performs her work on college campuses. She is a long-time friend of Charis, and has presented her work here a number of times. Pearl is the mother of one daughter, Deignan, and lives in Atlanta with her husband, Zaron W. Burnett, Jr.

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