I credit my mom (Carolyn - "Tug") as the most influential connection and influence on my creative foundation.  Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, I began to journal, write short stories and poetry at the early age of 10 years old.  It was there, surrounding my emotional development, through the exposure to such substantive and creative arts of Fisk University, my mother and god-mother's alma mater, and Tennessee State University, my father's alma mater, that my first interests in the arts took anchor, through such influences as the Jubilee Singers and local playwrights and visual arts.  I entered a couple of local and national poetry writing contests, and won a couple of awards.  This solidified the quest to one day write and publish. I was always influenced by the legends such as Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes and Marlon Riggs; they all had a major impact on my desire and creative expression.  Additional influences have been Robert Hayden, Richard Wright, Walt Whitman, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.   I’m also a huge fan of Terrance Hayes and his work, as well as what Tim’m West does with words and his work. 

Winner of the 2008 IPPY Award (Gold) for Poetry, for RHYTHMS - Poetry and Muse.

Besides working continuously to hone my craft and really to ultimately find my voice, I’m a consultant, and an adjunct faculty member at several universities, and do some course and curriculum development. I have a Bachelors Degree in Business Management, an MBA in International Management, an MPA in Government Programs Management and an MBA in Financial Management, and a Masters of Arts in Organizational Management (MAOM). I completed two years of law school but never finished – just wasn’t for me, and I’m currently on a hiatus from working on a PhD program. I reside right outside of the Washington, DC area, and I am the owner/author of Tugson Press, with four poetry books out – RHYTHMS – Poetry and Muse (Winner of the 2008 IPPY Award), SOUL-FULL – Poetry, D’LIBERATE RAMBLINGS and DEEP BREATHS.

Tugson Press

Leo Shelton