Box 207
Alcorn College
Alcorn, Mississippi

March 5, 1947

Mr. Langston Hughes
Atlanta University
Atlanta, Georgia

My dear Mr. Hughes:

Please accept my sincere thanks for your willingness to
look over some of my poems. I enclose herewith twelve (12) of them,
one of which is dedicated to you. It is at present incomplete; however,
I plan to complete it as a "double sonnet", using this experimental
style of structure. I sincerely hope it is acceptable.

I have tried to write since I was eleven. From 1935-1937
I gave up trying to write at all because of my discouragement in not
being able to send $12.00 to have two of my poems included in an an-
thology. However, I have returned to what has been my favorite hobby,
and am very anxious to know if there is any merit in the poems. If so,
I plan to publish the volume I am now working on.

Any criticism will be gratefully appreciated. I sincerely
wish I, too, could have been a member of your class in Creative Writing.

Thanking you again for your kindness and humble congratu-
lations on all the success you have had in your art, I am,

April 21, 1947

Miss Nanina C. Alba
Box 207
Alcorn College
Alcorn, Mississippi

Dear Miss Alba:

Mr. Langston Hughes received your two
letters concerning the poetry you sent to
him to read.

He told me to inform you that it is
his intention to read your poetry and pass
comment on it as soon as his time and work
will permit him to do so. At the present,
he has quite a bit of unsolicited manuscripts
to look over. The members of his Creative
Writing class are continually turning in
large volumes of material for him to read.

He assures you that as soon as he has
some free time he will read your material.

With best wishes to you for a poetic
career, I remain............

September 26

1947

Miss Nanina Champney Alba
Alcorn A. & M. College
Box 207
Alcorn, Mississippi

My dear Miss Alba:

Mr. Langston Hughes has left the country, to be gone for
several weeks, but before leaving, although actually and
literally swamped with work--requests, commitments, pub-
lic appearances and so on--he was most anxious that you re-
ceive some communication from him. At the very last min-
ute he was unable to write you directly but made me prom-
ise most faithfully that I would get in touch with you, and
so here is this letter. I know this is not like hearing
from Mr. Hughes himself, but prior to his departure he
talked at length with me about your work and I am going
to try and convey to you as nearly as I can his estimate
of your work.

Mr. Hughes feels that you have talent which should be en-
couraged and developed. That you do have the feel of a
poet is quite evident from the samples you sent. Your
sensitivity to the color of life is indicated in most of
your poems; you possess rhythm and have a fine onomato-
poetic touch. Your versatility has been ably demonstrat-
ed in the variety of your subject matter---from popular
style, mass-appeal poems like "Prayer for the Football
Coach" to the strength and fervor found in "Black Men
Praying." The lightness of your timing and inclination
to infuse even mundane subjects with a feeling that con-
veys both understanding and beauty simultaneously shows
itself in such a poem as "Rain in Midwestern Desert."

You will notice that Mr. Hughes has on several of the
sheets of your poetry made personal comments--indicating
either by words or otherwise his reaction. I do hope
that you will find these criticisms both helpful and re-
vealing. I do know, personally, that he was deeply
affected by your sonnet to him, and I, too, found it
human and perceptive.

Miss Alba
Page -2-

Mr. Hughes, feeling as he does about your talent, felt
that you should try and try to get some of your work pub-
lished, since it is too worthwhile and lovely to be kept
from the public. Consequently, he advised that you sub-
mit some of your work to such publications as POETRY or
COMMON GROUND; then there is SMART WOMAN, 4729 South State
Street, Chicago, Illinois; SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE, 220 East
42nd St., Suite 1400, New York 17, N.Y. Also, it won't
hurt to try such magazines as SATURDAY EVENING POST, COL-
LIERS, HARPER'S, or the ATLANTIC MONTHLY. The address of
COMMON GROUND is 20 West 40th Street, New York 18, N. Y.

Although this does not come directly from Mr. Hughes, in
another way, as you can see, this is his personal opinion
concerning you and your work. He hopes that you will not
give up your attempt to move ahead as a poet, for he is
firmly convinced that you have genuine ability and should
eventually succeed. No doubt you know that perseverance
is most necessary in the field of poetry, but if one is
sincerely inclined in this direction and has the talent
to accompany this sincerity, success sooner or later will
crown your effort.

Mr. Hughes hopes that you will find what he has said here
through my attempts to express his reaction of some real
benefit, and he sends to you best wishes and encouragement.

P.S. I am enclosing your poems.

303 Fonville Street
Tuskegee, Alabama
November 24, 1962

Mr. Langston Hughes
20 East 127th Street
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Hughes:

To begin with a cliche, at this "long last," I am almost ashamed to write to request consideration for this long delay. I assure you that not a day has passed without the intent on my part to write to you, first, to express deep gratitude for your gracibus acceptance of my poem to you; and, second, to express double gratitude for the gifts of your own books and poems. I have read several of your poems to my classes here at Tuskegee, and they enjoy them immensely. They especially liked excerpts from ASK YOUR MAMA. Please accept unending gratitude.

The main reason (besides work, work, work) for my inability to write was that I had the care of my mother, a cancer patient for nearly five years. It was for her a brave, long fight, but the inevitable won, October 1st. I miss her greatly, for she had lived with me off and on for the entire length of her illness. Her home was in Montgomery, Alabama.

I am including some poems which I shall be happy indeed for you to include in the anthology.

I have certainly enjoyed seeing and hearing you on the Gospel Hour recently being "aired" in our section.

Kindly accept this explanation and again my gratitude and
admiration.

Best wishes always.

P.S. If you can use these poems, please list my name as: Nanina Alba, dropping the middle name and/or initial.

December 17, 1962

Dear Mrs. Alba:

It was very nice to have your letter and
I thank you for sending me copies of your
poems. I remember reading, *RESARTUS*, in
Phylon and liking the sharpness of its
comment.

The new Negro Poetry Anthology for which
I have been gathering material for quite
a long time is temporarily at a standstill
since Indiana U. Press decided to bring
out an Anthology of African Poetry first
which they asked me to edit. It is now
ready to go to press. But I hope eventually
to succeed in getting the other one pub-
lished.

I send you cordial regards and all good
wishes for Happy Holidays.