Meet English major, film minor Angelia Buckingham

Wayne State University undergrad Angelia Buckingham is pursuing a degree in English with a minor in film. Angelia's path to the English department was a circuitous one. The native Detroiter moved to Los Angeles with her husband in 1986 and became a published songwriter/lyricist, writing and recording TV theme songs and jingles. Coincidentally, her first big job in L.A. was to create a radio jingle for business in Detroit. Fifteen years later Angelia returned to Detroit and will soon add “published poet” to her list of accomplishments when she is published in the Warren Artists' Market “2015 Special Memory Anthology” this fall.

Angelia writes her poetry under the pseudonym T. Dwella to keep her “creative selves” separate from one another (her songs and short stories are published under her legal name). The multi-talented undergraduate enjoys writing poetry because it allows her to use words and the arrangement of the words on a page to create an image in the mind of the reader. In Angelia’s words “In poetry—everything matters.”

On her decision to attend WSU, Angelia says, “The Wayne State University English department has a very strong creative writing track. I am in my last year of undergraduate work and have enjoyed my introductory classes as much as my advanced studies.” Outside of classes Angelia enjoys reading her favorite author Octavia Butler and on a clear night, you may catch her watching the night sky with her Cassegrain telescope for the moons of the planet Jupiter. Angelia/T. Dwella is taking part in the WSU Midtown Literary Walk, Saturday, September 19, 2015, alongside renowned poets from all over the country. She plans to pursue an M.F.A. degree in the fall of 2016.

By Mary Iverson