Delta Dreams Realized

Janis F. Kearney sits down for a conversation that traces her life from a sharecropping childhood in the Arkansas Delta to a singular post in American history, and the writing and publishing work that has followed.

Born one of nineteen children to sharecroppers in Gould, Arkansas, Kearney went on to serve as personal diarist to U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 2001, the first such appointment in presidential history. She is the founder of Writing Our World Publishing, which she launched in 2001, and the founder and director of the Celebrate! Maya Project, dedicated to celebrating the life and legacy of Maya Angelou and to serving young people throughout Arkansas, with specific focus on the Delta region.

Kearney is also the publisher of the historic Arkansas State Press, the weekly newspaper founded by Daisy Bates and her husband Lucious Bates. Her conversation centers the Delta as a place of origin, lineage, and continued creative work.