Fabian Clements Worsham (1952-1994)

Professor Fabian C. Worsham was a professor of English in the Department of English at the University of Houston-Downtown. She was a poet and a scholar in the literature of African American women. In particular, she was contributors to the volume African-American poets: Robert Hayden through Rita Dove and Women of color: mother-daughter relationships in 20th-century literature. Professor Worsham published three volumes of poetry in her lifetime, The Green Kangaroo (Anhinga Press, 1977), Aunt Erma’s Country Kitchen and Bordello (Signpost Press, 1985), and The Harlot’s Child (Shakespeare’s Sister Press, 1994). In her honor, the Department of English established the Fabian Worsham Award in Creative Writing to be offered annually to a student poet or writer whose creative work is outstanding. In Professor Worsham’s words: “[T]here are always doors that will open / and even in the darkest places / your own voice will come back / to you.”