Sapphire

Ramona Lofton, better known by her pen name Sapphire, is an author and performance poet.

She moved to New York City in her 20s and became heavily involved in the Slam Poetry movement. She taught in an adult literacy program in Harlem from 1987 to 1993. The people that she met while teaching and her students’ stories, along with her own difficult childhood, inspired her to write her first novel, Push.

Push was published in 1996 by Vintage Publishing and was an immediate success. When Lee Daniels offered to buy the movie rights, Sapphire initially refused. After she saw Daniels’ 2004 film, Monster’s Ball, she agreed to sell the rights. Although there were some changes made to the overall story, Sapphire was involved in editing the final script.^[1]

In 2011, Sapphire published a follow-up novel, The Kid. She also published three volumes of poetry.

Although the majority of her relationships have been with women, Sapphire is open about the fact that she is indeed bisexual and has pushed back when journalists have tried to erase her bisexuality.^[2]