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Obituaries

Wanda Coleman | 1946 - 2013

Wanda Coleman reads selections from her book "Hand Dance" at Veterans Wadsworth Theater in 1996. Coleman's early travails became a vital source for poetry that compelled attention to racism and hatred -- the themes that most drove her to transcend the barriers of her birth.

Wanda Coleman reads selections from her book “Hand Dance” at Veterans Wadsworth Theater in 1996. Coleman’s early travails became a vital source for poetry that compelled attention to racism and hatred -- the themes that most drove her to transcend the barriers of her birth.   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wanda Coleman, a native of Watts who long was regarded as L.A.’s unofficial poet laureate, died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long illness. She was 67. During four decades as a force on the Los Angeles poetry scene, Coleman wrote more than 20 books, including novels and collections of short stories and essays.

L.A. poet Wanda Coleman dies

Poet Wanda Coleman at a reading in 1994. The Watts native, a force on L.A.’s poetry scene for four decades, has died at the age of 67.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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