Omg! I am looking forward to reading these poets. As an African American who loves to read and write poetry, I had to do this category first.
The Hurston/Wright Legacy awards have been around since 2001. This is for African American Writers from African Americans. So important to have our work judged by the same cultural lens. So without much further adieu:
Title: Approaching the Fields
Author: Chanda Feldman
Awards: Promise Award from the Sustainable Art Foundation
Recognition: Wallace Steger Fellowship at Stanford University
Title: Davida (published posthumously)
Author: Monica A. Hand
Awards: Winner of the 2010 Kinereth Gensler Award
Special note: after a 32-year career with the US Postal Service she received an MA in poetry and translation from Drew University in 2011. She moved to Columbia, Missouri to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri
Recognition: served as a founding member of the poetry collective poets for Ayiti
Previous works: Me and Nina
Title: American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assasin
Author: Terrence Hayes
Awards: 2018 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry 2018 and 2010 National Book Award 2016 NAACP Image Award for Poetry
Special note: Influenced by Wanada Coleman who he calls ” Miss Calamity”
Recognition: Fellow Mac Arthur Foundation and Guggenheim Foundation
Previous work: Muscular Music, Winding Box, Lighthead
Title: Pardon My Heart
Author: Marcus Jackson
Special note: Influenced by Tracy K.Smith” Life On Mars” and Philip Levine’s “One for the Rose” to the name a few
Recognition: Cave Canem Fellow
Previous works: Rundown, Neighborhood Register
Title: Mend
Author: Kwoya Fagin Maples
Awards: Finalist Robert Dana Anhinga Poet
Special notes: Directs a multi-discipline exhibit which combines, painting, photographs, poetry and film
Recognition: Cave Canem Fellow Homeschool Lambda Literary Fellow
Previous Works: Something of Yours
Title: Crosslight for Youngbird
Author: Asiya Wadud
Special note: Leads an English conversation group for immigrants at the Brooklyn Public Library
Recognition: Member Belladonna Collaborative
Upcoming Works: Syncope, No Knowledge is Complete Until It Passes through My Body.
I cannot wait to read these books this fall. I only have 3 more books on my TBR so I got room.🙂👊👍
Part two I will share the Fiction Nominees
