As an accomplished actress, Nana Yarbrough has worked in theatre - on and off Broadway- including Kwamina, the Katherine Dunham Company of Dancers, Singers and Musicians, (Nana Yarbrough taught Dunham technique at Southern Illinois University), in Lorraine Hansberry's "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black", (with which she toured nationally and was a member of the cast album).  In James Weldon Johnson's "God's Trombones", (Trumphet's of the Lord).  In television and film, her credits include a CBS special "Caught in the Middle", soap operas "Search for Tomorrow" and "Where the Heart Is", and the movie, "Shaft" (the original).   During the 1970's, Nana Yarbrough found yet another creative vehicle with which to honor her divine assignment. She began a new career as a writer.

Nana Yarbrough's published works have appeared in The New York Times Drama Section, 1971(Today I Feel Like I am Somebody), The Black Collegian Magazine (Black Dance in America), and The Journal of African Civilization, (Black Women in Antiquity, edited by Ivan Van Sertima).  In 1979 her first book for children the award winning classic "Cornrows" was published by (Paperstar/Putnam Grosset).  Nana Yarbrough followed that publication with three other critically acclaimed books: The Shimmershine Queens and The Little Tree Growing in the Shade (all Paperstar/Putnam Grosset).  Her Tamika and the Wisdom Rings, first published by Random House, is currently published by Just Us Books, Inc.  Nana Yarbrough is presently at  work on two new books for children.

Continuing in her divine assignment in life, Nana Yarbrough moving from actor/author to lyricist/composer/producer  to performance artist in 2002, formed Ancestor House Productions, the Ancestor House Band and Ancestor House, a stage presentation of song, story, music and dance.  Nana Yarbrough went on to produce the Family Forever Concert at Aaron Davis Hall in New York City.  The Concert was also performed at the Museum of Natural History and at other venues throughout the New York City/New Jersey area.  From that concert presentation Nana Yarbrough produced, on her own label, MA'AT Music, her first independent  CD, Ancestor House. 

Ancestor House, the CD is a celebration of family, culture and spirit.  Ancestor House the stage presentation is a musical collage and an African "call and response serenade".  It is a cultural bridge connecting  the African diaspora to itself and the entire human family. One can't help but ask how is it that a women of her season and stature is still compelled to perform rather than rest on her laurels? She explains "Being a griot or storyteller is not a role that I choose to play. I know this is what I was born to do. What fuels me is the richness of African/African-American culture. This is what energizes me. I come from a kinship line that was re-born to re-tell our story over and over again. As its been said, "if we don't tell our story, we will surely die". We must tell it to the young, tell it to the old...everyone grows when our family story is told!"

Continuing in the tradition of Griot/Jalli, Nana Yarbrough currently produces and hosts a weekly cable television show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) in New York City, (Channel 34, Saturday/6:00PM).  The cable show Ancestor House is a community based outreach and an outlet for the telling of our stories.  Ancestor House, the cable show, is a spiritual space where we give thanks to our Creator, respect to our Ancestors and where we continue the telling of the Great African Family Story!!

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