Podcast appearances and mentions of Adrian Matejka

This week, poets CM Burroughs and Adrian Matejka discuss the groundbreaking legacy of poet Melvin Dixon, who “wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay Black man” (Poetry Foundation). Presented by the Poetry Foundation. This conversation originally took place May 19, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival. We hope you [...]

This week, poets CM Burroughs and Adrian Matejka discuss the groundbreaking legacy of poet Melvin Dixon, who "wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay Black man" (Poetry Foundation). Presented by the Poetry Foundation. This conversation originally took place May 19, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival.We hope you enjoy entering the Mind of a Writer.AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOMEAbout the writers:CM BURROUGHS is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago and author of The Vital System and Master Suffering, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, Lambda Book Award, and the LA Times Book Award. Burroughs' poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Poetry, Ploughshares, Cave Canem's Gathering Ground, and Best American Experimental Writing.ADRIAN MATEJKA is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Somebody Else Sold the World (Penguin, 2021), which was a finalist for the UNT 2022 Rilke Prize and the 2022 Indiana Authors Award. His first graphic novel Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century was published by Liveright in 2023. He serves as Editor of Poetry magazine.From the Poetry Foundation: Scholar, novelist, and poet MELVIN DIXON was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a BA from Wesleyan University and an MA and a PhD from Brown University. Dixon wrote the poetry collections Change of Territory (1983) and Love's Instruments (1995, published posthumously) and two novels, Trouble the Water (1989), winner of a Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction, and Vanishing Rooms (1991). Influenced by James Baldwin, Dixon wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay black man. Speaking on this topic at a speech to the Third National Lesbian and Gay Writers Conference, Dixon said, "As white gays deny multiculturalism among gays, so too do black communities deny multisexualism among their members. Against this double cremation, we must leave the legacy of our writing and our perspectives on gay and straight experiences."   Dixon produced scholarship on and translated writing by several African American writers, including Leopold Sedar Senghor, Geneviève Fabre, and Jacques Roumain. Dixon was the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and he taught at Wesleyan University, the City University of New York, Fordham University, Columbia University, and Williams College. He died from complications related to AIDS at age 42.

“Splotch”!! Comme le bruit d'une tache d'encre qui tombe. Focus sur des passionnés qui aiment à se rassembler via une association pour créer des projets de bandes dessinées. Splotch, une association assez unique en Suisse romande, et qui fête ses 10 ans d'existence.    Et notre sélection BD du mois avec la chronique des albums :« Le dernier debout » de Youssef Doudi et Adrian Matejka aux éditions Futuropolis. « Sa majesté des mouches » de Aimée De Jongh aux éditions Dargaud« De la lumière à l'ombre » de Gökçe Erverdi et co-scénarisé par plusieurs historiens, aux éditions AntipodesHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Go tell it on the mountain, darlings! Join the queens for a special Breaking Form report on the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.If you'd like to support Breaking Form:Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books:     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.     James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.SHOW NOTESIf you don't know about Absolutely Fabulous, which first ran from 1992-95, you're missing out. Catch Edina and Patsy's best moments here. Mona van Duyn taught at Bread Loaf at least once--according to this poster. Check out audio recordings of Bread Loaf readings and lectures here. I can also recommend the reading by Adrian Matejka & Paul Lisicky, both of whom read from work about celebrity icons (it was like a class on how to do that well).The t-slur has been recognized as an offensive slur for at least 10 years, if not more, as this Advocate article about the slur indicates.Daniel Mendelsohn's review ("A Striptease Among Pals") of Hana Yanagihara's A Little Life can be read here (sorry about the paywall!) and the whole dustup gets further press in this Guardian article.For more information about and to apply to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences (there are other conferences in environmental writing and in translation), visit their website here.

Chaque jour, deux chroniqueurs présentent les infos indispensables à connaître en matière de culture : les dernières actus musique, les sorties littéraires ou cinéma, les nouvelles pièces de théâtre et les séries à ne pas manquer… C'est ici !

Chaque jour, deux chroniqueurs présentent les infos indispensables à connaître en matière de culture : les dernières actus musique, les sorties littéraires ou cinéma, les nouvelles pièces de théâtre et les séries à ne pas manquer… C'est ici !

Chaque jour, deux chroniqueurs présentent les infos indispensables à connaître en matière de culture : les dernières actus musique, les sorties littéraires ou cinéma, les nouvelles pièces de théâtre et les séries à ne pas manquer… C'est ici !

Recorded by Adrian Matejka for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on April 19, 2024. www.poets.org

What is National Poetry Writing Month?Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.Prompt for todayLast but not least, here's our optional prompt for the day. Today, we'd like to challenge you to write a poem that is inspired by a piece of music, and that shares its title with that piece of music. Need an example? Here's A. Van Jordan's “Que Sera Sera” and Adrian Matejka's “Soave Sia Il Vento.”Poem for Todayhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W-o5Y_GunUJupiter The Bringer of Jollity 17 April 24 To be born as the father of the gods was born In such a similar way Brings us both to level ground I can only imagine that these were the sounds Echoing through the universe to mark both of our births When the members of the orchestra reach that point of the crash I am transported to that fateful day After the birth, the horns come in And coddle the youngster Making them warm and feel comforted The safest place in the world The march of time starts The fun times of youth are sprinkled here and there With the sounds of flutes and triangles The first challenge is encountered And the refrain returns of warmth and comfort The march picks up The pace quickens And the birth of our progeny happens All is silent And the process begins again And the pace slows back down And we enjoy the moments Basking in the pride we feel Trying to make these moments last forever We get to encounter what our predecessors felt when they held us The march slows as our bodies age The greatest things happen And we instead of watching our growth We watch theirs And then the begin the process And we as grandparents are doubly blessed We see the process happen again And again if we are lucky And we look to see the process happen one more...

Last year, Poetry magazine got its first Black editor, Adrian Matejka. He joined The 21st to talk about his plans for the publication and his own relationship with poetry.

We're heading back to our time in New York, and bringing you an episode of Poppin' Off with New York City bookseller, Dog Pack subscriber, friend of Rachel, the incredible Pedro Ramirez. Pedro brings wonderful insight to the book world of New York and offers fantastic reading recommendations. Bubbles were popped, and laughs were had. Thank you to Pedro and Lindsay for joining us on this special Bubbles & Books episode.  In this episode, Pedro mentions a poem called "Sporting Life" from Adrian Matejka's poetry collection, "The Big Smoke". You can find the poem online here.  Check out what Pedro had to say about this book as one of his staff picks at McNally Jackson here. You can find Pedro on Instagram at @prettymuchbooks  Please make sure to subscribe and rate the Bubbles & Books Podcast. And don't forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Instagram: @bubblesandbookspodcast Follow Dog-Eared Books on Instagram: @dogearedbooksames Interested in audiobooks? Listen while supporting Dog-Eared Books HERE. Visit us! www.dogearedbooksames.com

Adrian Matejka, editor of Poetry Magazine and author, joins Rick Kogan to talk about Poetry Magazine and his book “Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century.”

April 9, 2023 - "Map To The Stars" By Adrian Matejka, Read By Meredith Caraher by The Desmond-Fish Public Library & The Highlands Current, hosted by Ryan Biracree

A short take on the graphic novel Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century  written by Adrian Matejka and drawn by Youssef Daoudi.Episode written by Howard Rambsy IIRead by Kassandra Timm

Recorded by Adrian Matejka for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on February 24, 2023. www.poets.org

Last year, Poetry magazine got its first Black editor, Adrian Matejka. He joined The 21st to talk about his plans for the publication and his own relationship with poetry.

This week, Adrian Matejka sits down with poet and guest editor of the magazine, Charif Shanahan, to talk about oneness, the shifting of identity, and centering love. Born in the Bronx to an Irish-American father and a Moroccan mother, Shanahan's poems meditate on mixed-race identity, queer desire, time, mortality, and the legacies of anti-Blackness in the US and abroad. Shanahan shares how a class he almost dropped with the poet Linda Gregg changed poetry for him forever, and he reads two poems from his new book, Trace Evidence, which is out next month from Tin House Books.

Earlier this year, Poetry ​​​​​​​magazine got its first Black editor, Adrian Matejka. He joined The 21st today to talk about his plans for the publication and his own relationship with poetry.

This week, Poetry's new editor, Adrian Matejka, sits down with Nikky Finney and Ross Gay for a joy-filled conversation about time and how we catalogue it with artifacts, heartbeats, and, of course, poems.   Nikky Finney was born by the sea in South Carolina and raised during the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts Movements, and we'll hear from her most recent collection, Love Child's Hotbed of Occasional Poetry. Ross Gay was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1974, and we'll hear from his new collection of essays, Inciting Joy. Both Finney and Gay are featured in the October 2022 issue of Poetry, which marks the magazine's 110th anniversary.

In this episode, Grace Johnson is joined by the 2022 Hal Prize Poetry judge Adrian Matejka. Matejka was named the new editor of Poetry Magazine in 2022, is the author of seven books and his poetry collection, The Big Smoke, was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize in poetry. The two talk poetry, how music inspires Matejka and the future of Poetry Magazine.

NB: Sorry this one's late, but there's a lot here, from start to finish.Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– @poetry_says– Alice's recent interview with an important Australian poetry editor– Alice's recent episode on poetic insignificance– Adrian Matejka takes over Poetry– Waiting for the Poetry by Ange Mlinko– Robinson by Weldon Kees– Edwin Arlington Robinson– Robinson's Resignation by Simon Armitage– The angel in Love & Death– Gender Trouble by Judith Butler– Poets in Their Youth by Eileen Simpson– Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow– Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich– An Anniversary by Adrienne Rich– Power by Adrienne Rich– Living in Sin by Adrienne Rich– Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit– Ryan Wilson– Joshua Mehigan– Austin Allen– Safer than Ambien by Ange Mlinko– Bad Vegan–– Pastor Coleman– A PuzzlementTwitter: @sleerickets, @BPlatzerEmail: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith

by Adrian Matejka

by Adrian Matejka

Nationally acclaimed (Pulitzer Prize nominated) poet Adrian Matejka jumps into the Zoom to talk about his new poetry book Somebody Else Sold The World. Dan-O and Adrian talk Jack Johnson, writing in real time, romantic poetry, and embracing your strengths.

Adrian Matejka reflects on cruelty as manifested in American institutions, history, private lives, and the public realm of the past year. He opens with Ai's invocation of the human hunger for violence (“Cruelty”), Lucille Clifton's deft blending of imagery and wisdom (“cruelty. don't talk to me about cruelty”), and Al Young's meditation on American cruelty as it begins with slavery (“The Slave Ship Desire”). To close, Matejka reads his poem “Somebody Else Sold the World,” which considers the complexities of cruelty in the context of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.Listen to the full recordings of Ai, Clifton, and Young reading for the Poetry Center on Voca:Ai (1972)Lucille Clifton (1983)Al Young (1997) You can also watch a 2016 reading by Adrian Matejka on Voca.

S6 E54: In this episode, meet poet Adrian Matejka, artist Pik-Shuen Fung, and writer David Searcy. If you love poignant stories that are told straight from the heart, tune in to listen to these writers discuss the inspirations behind their work. Hear Adrian Matejka on the power of music in the pandemic, Pik-Shuen Fung on grief and art, and David Searcy on his experiences recording his audiobook. Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/670033/somebody-else-sold-the-world/ Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/665652/ghost-forest/ The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World by David Searcy: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/623052/the-tiny-bee-that-hovers-at-the-center-of-the-world/

[Content Warning: Suicide and Self-Harm]Fresh from watching Anthony Bourdain's biopic, Mary and Wyatt settle in on the big yellow couch for a long talk about suicide. They talk about mental illness, stigma, how suicide has touched their lives, and dig in about environmental conditions and systems that contribute to poor mental health. Also on the agenda: Mary and Wyatt's top five favorite movies, there is poop in our basement, and poems by Maggie Smith and Adrian Matejka.

Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka by Poets & Writers

On February 9, 2021 the Lannan Center presented a Crowdcast webinar featuring Shane McCrae and Vievee Francis. Introductions by Lannan Fellows Joshua Kim and Renny Simone. Moderated by Carolyn Forché.Shane McCrae is the author of seven books of poetry, including Sometimes I Never Suffered (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020); In the Language of My Captor (Wesleyan University Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and The Animal Too Big to Kill (Persea Books, 2015), winner of the 2014 Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor’s Choice Award. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He teaches at Columbia University and lives in New York City.Vievee Francis was born in West Texas. She earned an MFA from the University of Michigan in 2009, and she received a Rona Jaffe Award the same year. She is the author of Forest Primeval (TriQuarterly Books, 2015), winner of the 2017 Kingsley Tufts Award; Horse in the Dark (Northwestern University Press, 2012), winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize; and Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006). The poet Adrian Matejka describes her poems as “revelations—of memory, of dust, of the cotton and marginalia strung together to make a history.” The recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and the Kresge Foundation, Francis currently serves as an editor for Callaloo and teaches English and creative writing at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.Music: Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.

Production and Sound Design by Kevin Seaman

Basketball! On this week's episode, Bob and Chris lean fully into their absurd love of basketball by reading poems about hoops. Bob reads “Mixology” by Adrian Matejka, Chris reads “windmill” by Kevin Coval and Idris Goodwin, and then the dudes discuss teams they're excited about in the NBA playoffs (spoiler: it's the Clippers). Special shoutouts: Natalie Diaz, Marissa Crane, Chris's dad, Charles Gabel, Kevin Weidner.

Jack Johnson is an unlikely subject for a book of poetry. But that's exactly what poet and NEA Big Read author Adrian Matejka did when he wrote The Big Smoke-- a collection of 52 poems about Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight world champion. He held the title from 1908 to 1915 when Jim Crow ruled and white America was outraged—by Johnson's holding the title, certainly; but, also by his propensity to live large and live large with a white wife. White America called for “a great white hope” to take the title from Johnson, and that “hope” emerged when boxer Jim Jeffries comes out of retirement to take up the challenge. The Big Smoke follows Johnson's journey from the son of formerly-enslaved parents to the victor in the ”fight of the century” against Jeffries through the perspective of Johnson himself and occasional observations of three women who figure prominently in his life. In this podcast, Adrian Matejka takes us through his interest in Johnson and boxing (spoiler: it was his mother who introduced him to both!), reaching across a century to find Johnson's voice and the music he finds in poetry.

Jack Johnson is an unlikely subject for a book of poetry. But that’s exactly what poet and NEA Big Read author Adrian Matejka did when he wrote The Big Smoke-- a collection of 52 poems about Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight world champion. He held the title from 1908 to 1915 when Jim Crow ruled and white America was outraged—by Johnson’s holding the title, certainly; but, also by his propensity to live large and live large with a white wife. White America called for “a great white hope” to take the title from Johnson, and that “hope” emerged when boxer Jim Jeffries comes out of retirement to take up the challenge. The Big Smoke follows Johnson’s journey from the son of formerly-enslaved parents to the victor in the ”fight of the century” against Jeffries through the perspective of Johnson himself and occasional observations of three women who figure prominently in his life. In this podcast, Adrian Matejka takes us through his interest in Johnson and boxing (spoiler: it was his mother who introduced him to both!), reaching across a century to find Johnson’s voice and the music he finds in poetry.

Jack Johnson is an unlikely subject for a book of poetry. But that’s exactly what poet and NEA Big Read author Adrian Matejka did when he wrote The Big Smoke-- a collection of 52 poems about Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight world champion. He held the title from 1908 to 1915 when Jim Crow ruled and white America was outraged—by Johnson’s holding the title, certainly; but, also by his propensity to live large and live large with a white wife. White America called for “a great white hope” to take the title from Johnson, and that “hope” emerged when boxer Jim Jeffries comes out of retirement to take up the challenge. The Big Smoke follows Johnson’s journey from the son of formerly-enslaved parents to the victor in the ”fight of the century” against Jeffries through the perspective of Johnson himself and occasional observations of three women who figure prominently in his life. In this podcast, Adrian Matejka takes us through his interest in Johnson and boxing (spoiler: it was his mother who introduced him to both!), reaching across a century to find Johnson’s voice and the music he finds in poetry.

Jack Johnson is an unlikely subject for a book of poetry. But that’s exactly what poet and NEA Big Read author Adrian Matejka did when he wrote The Big Smoke-- a collection of 52 poems about Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight world champion. He held the title from 1908 to 1915 when Jim Crow ruled and white America was outraged—by Johnson’s holding the title, certainly; but, also by his propensity to live large and live large with a white wife. White America called for “a great white hope” to take the title from Johnson, and that “hope” emerged when boxer Jim Jeffries comes out of retirement to take up the challenge. The Big Smoke follows Johnson’s journey from the son of formerly-enslaved parents to the victor in the ”fight of the century” against Jeffries through the perspective of Johnson himself and occasional observations of three women who figure prominently in his life. In this podcast, Adrian Matejka takes us through his interest in Johnson and boxing (spoiler: it was his mother who introduced him to both!), reaching across a century to find Johnson’s voice and the music he finds in poetry.

Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka speaks with acclaimed poet Terrance Hayes, author of the recent collection, "American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin.”

Today's poem is Record Changer by Adrian Matejka.

In the spirit of back to school season, we have Mr. Aaron Coleman sharing his poem, "On Acquiescence," as well as his School Dose selection, "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes. Aaron Coleman is the author of Threat Come Close (Four Way Books, 2018) and the chapbook St. Trigger, selected by Adrian Matejka for the 2015 Button Poetry Prize. A Fulbright Scholar and Cave Canem Fellow from Metro-Detroit, Aaron has lived and worked with youth in locations including Spain, South Africa, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kalamazoo. Aaron’s poems have appeared in journals including Boston Review, FENCE, and New York Times Magazine. As a poet and translator from Spanish, Aaron has received awards including the American Literary Translators Association’s Jansen Memorial Fellowship, the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Contest, and the Cincinnati Review Schiff Award. Aaron is currently a PhD student at Washington University St. Louis, studying 20th Century literature of the African Diaspora and Translation Studies in the Comparative Literature Program’s International Writers’ Track. Music; "Another Brick in the Wall" by Richard Cheese

It's nearly time for the Indy Fringe Fest, all the bands are coming to Carmel, and why you should visit Columbus, Indiana this month. We'll also get a sneak preview of Nickel Plate Arts' fall season, and meet poet Adrian Matejka. Join us for these conversations and more on "The Art of the Matter."

We asked five questions (and a little more) to Indiana University professor and poet-in-residence Adrian Matejka. The award-winning poet is author of The Devil’s Garden, Mixology, and The Big Smoke—a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award and the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. His upcoming collection of poems, Map to the Stars, will be released in March 2017. #artsandhumanities

This week, Through the Gates hosts Jim Shanahan and Janae Cummings talk with Ed Comentale, associate vice provost for arts and humanities in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, and Arts and Humanities Council intern Lucy Battersby, an undergraduate studying history and creative writing in the College of Arts and Sciences. Ed and Lucy share updates from the council and talk about First Thursdays, a celebration of contemporary arts & humanities on the IU Bloomington campus debuting Sept. 1 at 5 p.m. The festival is free and open to all members of the public, with performances and activities around the Showalter Arts Plaza from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., followed by featured evening events at venues across campus. Janae Cummings also talks with IU award-winning poet Adrian Matejka, who has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and who is kicking off the inaugural First Thursdays event Sept. 1, and documentarian Rick Prelinger, whose film “No More Road Trips?” will be shown during the event at 6:30 p.m. in the IU Cinema #artsandhumanities

Literature for the Halibut is BACK with a terrific episode on some of our favorite themes: collaboration, badass publishers, breathtaking poetry and what happens when two genres collide. Ann & Nicky talk to two literary editors, Dusty Freund from Natural Bridge and Jessica Rogen from Boulevard. The two have joined forces to present a party and reading that celebrate their magazines' spring issues. Jessica & Dusty talk about their collaboration, print vs. digital and what it's like to meet readers face-to-face. Midway through, the group is joined by National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Adrian Matejka. Adrian reads his poem, "Famous Negro Athletes," published in the latest issue of Boulevard. He tells us about writing a script for a new graphic novel based on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. The graphic novel is a continuation of Adrian's book of poems, The Big Smoke & we are dying to read it.    Listen up! AND, if you're local, check out theses three live and in person on May 25 2016, 6:30 PM at Dressel's Pub.     

Accomplished actor, writer, singer and director Robby Benson joins host Jim Shanahan for this week's episode of Through the Gates. A professor of practice at Indiana University, Benson brings experience gained through a career that stretches to nearly five decades, including his most famous role in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." Now, Benson guides film students at IU, including some who will showcase their work at two screenings this week. In this episode, Benson will discuss his long career, how television and film are changing, and what challenges his student filmmakers have had to overcome in their creative process. Also, in recognition of National Poetry Month, poets Adrian Matejka and Lisa Kwong will join the podcast to read some of their works. #artsandhumanities

Dave Torneo interviews poet Adrian Matejka, a graduate of Indiana University who teaches in the MFA program at IU-Bloomington.

Adrian Matejka's most recent poetry collection, The Big Smoke, about the life of the boxer Jack Johnson, was published by Penguin in May 2013.  He is also the author of The Devil's Garden (Alice James Books, 2003) and Mixology (Penguin, 2009) which was a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series.  He is the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards and fellowships from Cave Canem and the Lannan Foundation.  His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, and Poetry among other journals and anthologies.  You can click here to listen to him read the poem "The Battle of the Century," from The Big Smoke (discussed at 33:47 in this interview), at the jubilat website.  He teaches creative writing at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Adrian Matejka reads poems from his 2013 book The Big Smoke, which examines iconic prizefighter Jack Johnson.

Adrian Matejka reads from his forthcoming book and speaks with us about the source material for this project and his recent visit to Jack Johnson's gravesite.

Adrian Matejka reads from his 2013 book The Big Smoke, which explores through poetry the life and myth of prizefighter Jack Johnson.