Oakland, CA - Daphne Muse, director of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) at Mills College, has published a new children’s book for children ages 4 through 10, entitled The Entrance Place of Wonders—Poems of the Harlem Renaissance. Published by Harry N. Abrams, New York, this is the fourth book by Muse, a writer, social commentator, and activist.

WLI was founded in 1993 to develop and recognize women’s leadership on behalf of advancing society and creating a more equitable world.  The Institute’s summits, lectures, and fellow initiatives are designed to enrich learning, inquiry, and scholarship within Mills’ academic and student life programs. Muse was hired in 2005 to develop more initiatives providing leadership opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.  WLI is currently collaborating with several departments and programs on campus to increase student and faculty participation in service learning, civic engagement, and leadership.

Other works by Muse include: The New Press Guide to Multicultural Resources for Young Readers (The New Press, New York 1997); Prejudice: A Story Collection (Hyperion, New York 1996); Children of Africa (co-authored with Jennifer Lawson and Courtland Cox, Third World Press 1996); and Sa Yaa Watoto (Drum and Spear Press, Dar Es Salaam 1970).

A former National Public Radio social commentator, she has published her writing in The San Francisco Chronicle, Black Scholar, The Washington Post, and many other outlets nationwide. In 2004, Muse was selected as a Forever New Frontiers Radio Essayist and commissioned to write an essay on Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks.  Her most recent essay, “Our Week with Rosa Parks,” was entered into the Congressional Record by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) on October 27, 2005.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges - 2005. Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.