L.E.N.S. Author for 2023
Charlise Lyles
“Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? From the Projects to Prep School”
Her story is of a girl growing up Afro and American on the cusp of a new era, the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, at a time when Black Militants marched in the streets, and Ice Cream Vendors were murdered in the same streets. The author recounts how she sojourns from her home in a volatile housing project to a predominantly white private school, that she fit into neither universes.
The Question is, Who will she become?
Charlise currently lives with her husband in Plano, Texas. She grew up in Cleveland’s King-Kennedy Estates public housing project, notorious for crime and other obstacles that challenge students growing up in concentrated poverty.
Over 16,000 students and teachers have read her memoir “Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? From the Projects to Prep School”. “The creativity and passion of Charlise was obvious from the very beginning of her life as a writer. Her memoir, rich in humor, insight, and revelation, is a deeply moving experience,” said the late author Studs Terkel.
In 1974, Charlise Lyles was in the first cohort of female students to attend Hawken School, a previously all-boys private school in the remote suburbs of Cleveland. She went on to attend Boston University and graduate from Smith College in Northampton, MA.
For 20 years, Ms. Lyles worked as a print journalist, starting as a clerk for Chief White House Correspondent Hedrick Smith in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times. She went on to report on local government, social services, religion and courts for Landmark Newspapers and Cox Media. She received numerous journalism awards as a reporter, including the prestigious Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship and two Ohio Society of Professional Journalists first- and second-place prizes.
In 1999, Ms. Lyles was the co-founding editor of Catalyst Cleveland, a non-profit urban education policy magazine that reported on school reform efforts in the city’s public schools. Under her nine-year leadership, the publication received numerous recognitions, including two national awards from the Association for Women in Communications, and state awards for Best Social Justice Reporting. She also received a Kiplinger Fellowship at The Ohio State University to study digital media.
She has also ghost-written a history book on Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent philosophy and protest techniques. As a short story writer, Ms. Lyles has received a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Arts and the Kimbilio Fiction Workshop at SMU. She studied in MFA programs at Old Dominion University and SMU.
Currently, she works in health information technology with a focus on health equity. She also explores ways to contribute to youth by teaching strong decision-making skills. She is also an avid gardener and loves spending time with her harvest.
