Opal Palmer Adisa uses language to shapeshift and call other realities into being; a cultural activist, gender specialist, and an award winning writer of over 20 books in all genres, Adisa is the former University Director of The Institute for Gender and Development Studies- RCO at The University of the West Indies, Mona, and Professor Emerita of California College of the Arts, Oakland, California. She is also a playwright and director whose plays have been produced in California, St Croix & St Thomas, USVI, and Egypt. Further, she has been awarded artist-in-resident at several prestigious venues, including Sacatar in Brazil, El Gouna in Egypt, and McColl Center for Art and Innovation in North Carolina, and Headlands Center for the Arts, California.