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Pearl Cleage (born December 7, 1948) is an African-American poet, essayist, and journalist living...

Pearl Cleage (born December 7, 1948) is an African-American poet, essayist, and journalist living in Atlanta, Georgia. An activist on issues including AIDS, women's rights, and black life, her first novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (1997), was an Oprah Book Club selection and appeared on the New York Times best-seller list for nine weeks. Cleage (pronounced "cleg") was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the younger daughter of Doris Graham and Albert B. Cleage, Jr. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where her father was a church pastor and played a prominent role in the civil rights movement. After graduating from the Detroit public schools in 1966, Cleage enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in playwriting and dramatic literature. In 1969 she moved to Atlanta and enrolled at Spelman College, graduating in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in drama. She later joined the Spelman faculty as a writer and playwright in residence and as a creative director. In 1969 she married Michael Lomax, an Atlanta politician and educator and the current president of the United Negro College Fund. They have one daughter, Deignan Njeri. The marriage ended in