Mwalim *7) "DaPhunkee Professor" (Morgan James Peters) is a multi-award-winning storyteller/spoken word artist, playwright, oral historian, singer, songwriter, music producer, and filmmaker. Born in Bronx, NY., and raised in both New York and Mashpee, MA, he is a graduate of Music & Art High School (now known as LaGuardia), he is a trained violist, jazz pianist and composer. Performing at Carnegie Hall before the age of 14, and by 16, one of the youngest studio session players in EMI history; he is currently, the keyboardist and a singer for the multi- Grammy nominated soul-funk band The GroovaLottos. As an iconic part of the east coast underground art and music scenes for over 30 years, his stages have included theaters, schools, street corners, libraries, galleries, museums, festivals, powwows, jails, nightclubs, temples, community centers, and colleges throughout the country. His plays, solo performance pieces, and experimental films have been presented throughout the USA and Canada as well as the Caribbean and U.K. Mwalim earned his BA in Music and MS in Film from Boston University, and his MFA in Writing from Goddard College. He received his formal training in theater arts and arts education from New African Company in Boston. Mwalim is a two-time recipient of the Yen Fellowship, several New England Urban Music Awards for jazz, the Healey Grant, the Osborne Fellowship, and a three-time recipient of the Ira Aldridge Theatre Fellowship. He is a tenured Associate Professor of English & Communications and Black Studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he teaches playwriting, fiction writing, oral traditions, spoken-word, Black aesthetics, Black American cinema, and digital filmmaking. Land of the Black Squirrels is his first novel.