Podcasts about Tyehimba Jess

Today's poem is Hagar in the Wilderness by Tyehimba Jess.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “This week's episodes are a special feature on ekphrasis – poems which engage with works of art. Today's poet pays homage to an artist who, with her own hands, made art out of heroic, mythical, and biblical figures, whose visions were worthy of the substance of stone.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

We discuss the new issue (https://the-american-poetry-review.myshopify.com/collections/issues/products/vol-52-no-4-jul-aug-2023), of course, and: * Readings from Justin Rigamonti and Nomi Stone (https://aprweb.org/poems/doing-messages) * A Tyehimba Jess (https://www.tyehimbajess.net/) reading and other memorable readings – what makes a reading memorable? * Some summer poems like: Ada Limón's “Sundown All The Damage Done” (https://aprweb.org/poems/sundown-and-all-the-damage-done) * “Mock Orange” by Louise Glück (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49601/mock-orange) * “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” by James Wright (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47734/lying-in-a-hammock-at-william-duffys-farm-in-pine-island-minnesota) * Recommendations including: Big Swiss (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-swiss-jen-beagin/1141291765?ean=9781982153083) by Jen Beagin, Janelle Monae's new one The Age of Pleasure (https://open.spotify.com/album/3440hCSfwYXxJcbQ0j3jAJ), Tender is the Flesh (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tender-is-the-flesh-agustina-bazterrica/1135277372)by Agustina Bazterrica, and translations by Jennifer Grotz (https://www.jennifergrotz.com/)

Born in the Gambia, Kweku Abimbola earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. He is of Gambian, Ghanaian, and Sierra Leonean descent. Abimbola's first full-length poetry collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm, was published by Graywolf Press in 2023. In 2022, the début collection was selected by Tyehimba Jess to receive the Academy of American Poets' First Book Award. Abimbola's writing primarily investigates colonization, Black mourning, Black boyhood, gender politics, and the spiritual consequences of climate change in West Africa. He is a Visiting Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Tampa. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/viewlesswings/support

Christine and Brandon read aloud Fisk Jubilee Proclamation, by contemporary poet Tyehimba Jess. This poem comes from Jess's 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry-winning book Olio. They discuss Jess's masterful marriage of form and content and spectacular word choice.Olio: https://bookshop.org/a/1329/9781940696201Jess discussing Jubilee Singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7j8jThOYa8Jess - popular music through poetry: https://lithub.com/tyehimba-jess-on-excavating-popular-music-through-poetry/NPR on Jess: https://www.npr.org/2017/07/15/537381252/the-unconventional-poetry-of-tyehimba-jessJoe Carter on Negro Spirituals: https://onbeing.org/programs/joe-carter-the-spirituals-aug2018/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit News joins the show to talk about the new psychiatric facility that will be built in Northville. Then, native Detroiter and Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Tyehimba Jess discusses his work, Detroit's influence on him, and what poetry offers the world.

This week, poets Angela Jackson, Johanny Vázquez Paz, Faisal Mohyuddin, and Carlos Cumpián read from and discuss their contributions to the recent collection Wherever I'm At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Wherever I'm At: The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame has partnered with Chicago publishers After Hours Press and Third World Press to produce a definitive collection of poetry by living Chicago poets. "Wherever I'm At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry" features the work of a widely diverse list of over 160 poets and artists all with strong ties to Chicagoland. With a Foreword by noted scholar Carlo Rotello, the new anthology is edited by Donald G. Evans (executive director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame) who completed the project begun by the late poet-editor-teacher Robin Metz formerly of Knox College. A dazzling array of voices representing many generations of Chicagoans grace the pages of "Wherever I'm At" including essential poets such as Li-Young Lee, Elizabeth Alexander, Stuart Dybek, Angela Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Sandra Cisneros, Campbell McGrath, Ana Castillo, Maxine Chernoff, Patricia Smith, Edward Hirsch, Kathleen Rooney, Luis Alberto Urrea, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Luis J. Rodriguez, Elise Paschen, Sterling Plumpp, Marianne Boruch, Haki Madhubuti, Rachel DeWoskin, Ed Roberson, Tara Betts, and Reginald Gibbons, to name a few. The list is exhaustive in its diversity and according to editor Don Evans, deliberately so. This anthology also showcases the incredible visuals of an equally talented group of Chicago artists whose work amplifies the poetic musings throughout.

12.5.22 "Writing Kept Hidden" by Carolyn Forché 12.6.22 "Lost Glove" by Charles Simic 12.7.22 "Why My Mother's Teeth Remained in Cuba" by EJ Vega in Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets 12.8.22 "Provincetown" by Afaa Michael Weaver 12.9.22 "Quartet" by Robert Hass 12.10.22 "sallie ledbetter: a mother's hymn" by Tyehimba Jess 12.11.22 "Saturday at the Border" by Hayden Carruth 12.12.22 from Kyrie by Ellen Bryant Voigt 12.13.22 "The Gate" by Marie Howe 12.14.22 XXXI from The Desert of Lop by Raoul Schrott

Five writers and artists not normally associated with classical music, discuss a specific example of Vaughan Williams's work to which they have a personal connection, and why it speaks to them. Following on from the successful Five Kinds of Beethoven Radio 3 essay series in 2020, where a wide range of Beethoven fans shared their personal relationship to the composer and his work, this new series gives similar treatment to Vaughan Williams. Our essayists share their unexpected perspective on Vaughan Williams's work, taking it outside the standard ‘English pastoral' box, in a series of accessible essays, part of the Vaughan Williams season on Radio 3. The Lark Ascending is Dr Rommi Smith's favourite piece by Vaughan Williams. It has accompanied her all over the world in her travels as a poet and teacher, reminding her of her Englishness and her home, even when as a Black woman, she is often not ‘seen' as being English. The piece is a key part of her English DNA. This was brought home to her vividly when the violinist Tai Murray, a Black American woman, played the piece during the Proms in 2018. There was subsequent racist twitter comment, saying she had only been ‘let in' because she is Black. Dr Rommi Smith considers her own connection to The Lark Ascending and how who performs it is significant. Dr Rommi Smith is an award-winning poet, playwright, theatre-maker, performer and librettist. A three-time BBC Writer-in-residence, she is the inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and inaugural 21st century Poet-in-Residence for Keats' House, Hampstead. A Visiting Scholar at City University New York (CUNY), she has presented her research and writing at institutions including: THE SEGAL THEATRE, THE SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE and CITY COLLEGE NEW YORK. Rommi's performance at THE SCHWERNER WRITERS' SERIES in New York was at the invitation of Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry. Rommi is a Doctor of Philosophy in English and Theatre. Her academic writing was first published by NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS as part of the groundbreaking book IMAGINING QUEER METHODS (2019). Her poetry is included in publications ranging from OUT OF BOUNDS (Bloodaxe) to MORE FIYA (Canongate). She is recipient of a HEDGEBROOK Fellowship (Cottage: Waterfall, 2014) and is a winner of THE NORTHERN WRITERS' PRIZE for Poetry 2019 (chosen by the poet Don Paterson). She was recently awarded a prestigious CAVE CANEM fellowship in the US. Rommi was selected a SPHINX30 playwright; a prestigious programme of professional mentoring for – and by - contemporary women playwrights, led by legendary company, SPHINX THEATRE. Rommi is a contributor to BBC radio programmes including: FRONT ROW, THE VERB and the radio documentary INVISIBLE MAN: PARABLE FOR OUR TIMES?, marking 70 years since the publication of Ralph Ellison's iconic novel. Rommi is poet-in-residence for the WORDSWORTH TRUST, Grasmere. www.rommi-smith.co.uk Twitter: @rommismith Soundcloud: RommiSmith Instagram: Rommi Smith Writer and reader Rommi Smith Sound designer Paul Cargill Producers Polly Thomas and Yusra Warsama Exec producer Eloise Whitmore Photographic Image by Lizzie Coombes A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

Tyehimba Jess discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Olio (Wave Books, 2016). This talk was given March 4, 2018 in conjunction with Seattle Arts Lectures. Jess talks about the genesis and stories behind the poems in Olio, which revisits the biographies of African American creatives from the Civil War until WW1, including Scott Joplin, Blind Boone, Sissieretta Jones, Blind Tom, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Edmonia Lewis, Henry Box Brown, and others, and provides an opportunity to discuss history, form, geometry, resistance, and resilience via this incredibly multifaceted work. Anastacia-Reneé joins him in conversation for the Q&A.

In this installment, Daenerys and Nathan W. sit down with Tyehimba Jess, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet.

This week, Bob and Chris continue their discussion of Tyehimba Jess's leadbelly. They talk how hard living and difficult conditions affects more than just the person doing the hard living, how exploitative academic study can be, and great moments in NBA labor history.

This week, Bob and Chris break down Tyehimba Jess's book "leadbelly," a poetic biography of the legendary bluesman. Bob reads "fanin street signifies" and "brownie and leadbelly: stipulations and apprenticeship," and the guys mispronounce the word "contrapuntal" a whole bunch.

Celebrating National Poetry Month! Produced by DuEwa World - Consulting + Bookings http://www.duewaworld.com Ep. 26 DuEwa interviews award winning poet Tyehimba Jess. Tyehimba discusses his prize winning books, Leadbelly (2005) and Olio (2016).  Visit TyehimbaJess.net and Wavepoetry.com for more information.   Follow the podcast @nerdacitypodcast on IG and @nerdacitypod1 on Twitter.  Visit www.DuEwaWorld.com. Support future episodes of this podcast by sending a donation to PayPal.me/duewaworld or anchor.fm/duewafrazier/support. BIO Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Midland Society Author's Award in Poetry, and received an Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.  It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN Jean Stein Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.  Leadbelly was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the “Best Poetry Books of 2005.” Jess, a Cave Canem and NYU Alumni, received a 2004 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a 2004–2005 Winter Fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Jess is also a veteran of the 2000 and 2001 Green Mill Poetry Slam Team, and won a 2000–2001 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry, the 2001 Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Award, and a 2006 Whiting Fellowship. He presented his poetry at the 2011 TedX Nashville Conference and won a 2016 Lannan Literary Award in Poetry. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2018. Jess is a Professor of English at College of Staten Island. Jess' fiction and poetry have appeared in many journals, as well as anthologies such as Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, Beyond The Frontier: African American Poetry for the Twenty-First Century, Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Power Lines: Ten Years of Poetry from Chicago's Guild Complex, and Slam: The Art of Performance Poetry. Disclaimer:  Views discussed on the podcast are not necessarily those of any organization or employer DuEwa may work with. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/duewafrazier/support

In this episode, we celebrate Black History Month with a reading and discussion of the anthology African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song edited by Kevin Young, Poetry Editor of The New Yorker. This incredible anthology is described as "A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present," and in it we found familiar voices that we know and love, as well as new poets, and some whose work is hard to find or long out of print. This is a perfect start to reading African American poetry, and we highly recommend getting yourself a copy!  Though there are so many great poets in this anthology, here are those we highlighted in this episode:  Claude McKay  June Jordan Tyhimba Jess Jericho Brown Tracy K. Smith Morgan Parker For further listening, we recommend a recent episode of The New Yorker Poetry podcast called "Radical Imagination: Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson and Terrance Hayes on Poetry in Our Times" We also recommend two AWP events, for which poets we highlighted in this episode will be panelists:  Sunday, March 7th 1:30-2:30pm Central Time Sn119. Poem About My Rights: June Jordan Speaks, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press. (Michael Wiegers, Rio Cortez, Jericho Brown, Monica Sok) “I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name / My name is my own my own my own.” A panel of poets and editors will read and discuss iconic works by June Jordan, including the electric, revolutionary “Poem About My Rights.” In her too-short career, Jordan boldly, lyrically, and overtly called out the harms caused by anti-Black police violence, sexual abuse, and heterosexism, lighting a way forward for other writers. Each poet will offer one poem of their own to honor Jordan's literary influence. Wednesday March 3rd, 3:00-4:00pm Central Time W136. The Futures of Documentary and Investigative Poetries. (Solmaz Sharif, Erika Meitner, Tyehimba Jess, Philip Metres, Layli Long Soldier) Investigative or documentary poetry situates itself at the nexus between literary production and journalism, where the mythic and factual, the visionary and political, and past and future all meet. From doing recovery projects to performing rituals of healing to inventing forms, panelists will share work (their own and others') and discuss challenges in docupoetic writing and its futures: the ethics of positionality, appropriation, fictionalizing, collaboration, and political engagement. Thank you for joining us in honoring the lives and writing of Black poets, past and present, and as always, thanks for listening!     

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Tyehimba Jess is the author of leadbelly and Olio. A Cave Canem and NYU alumni, Jess is a Professor of English at the College of Staten Island.

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Tyehimba Jess is the author of leadbelly and Olio. A Cave Canem and NYU alumni, Jess is a Professor of English at the College of Staten Island. This is the first of our two part conversation.

Karla Huston is a poet based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Karla was the 2017-2018 Poet Laureate of Wisconsin. On this episode Karla tells us what it means to be a Poet Laureate for a State. She also discusses how her artistic and educational roles have informed each other, and what it means to be a good Literary Citizen. At the end of the episode, Karla reads “The Theory of Lipstick,” which won a Pushcart Prize in 2011.You can find more information about Karla and her work, which includes 8 chapbooks and a full collection, here: www.karlahuston.comKarla recommends reading any poetry that speaks to you! She is currently reading these wonderful works:Tyehimba Jess, OlioAllison Joseph, Confessions of a Barefaced WomanIlya Kaminsky, Deaf RepublicTed Kooser, Kindest RegardsDorianne Laux, Only As The Day Is LongArt Lives theme and transition music is composed by Nicholaus Meyers. Logo designed by Eduardo Moreno. Art Lives is available here, on Apple podcasts and Stitcher. Art Lives Podcast RSS

Tyehimba Jess is winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book “Olio.” With ambitious manipulations of poetic forms, Jess presents the sweat and story behind America's blues, worksongs and church hymns. Part fact, part fiction, his much anticipated second book weaves sonnet, song, and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers directly before and after the Civil War up to World War I. “Olio” is an effort to understand how they met, resisted, complicated, co-opted, and sometimes defeated attempts to minstrelize them.

Marilyn Nelson's poetic legacy, through the eyes of one of her many protégés, Tyehimba Jess.

Tyehimba Jess is winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book “Olio.” With ambitious manipulations of poetic forms, Jess presents the sweat and story behind America's blues, worksongs and church hymns. Part fact, part fiction, his much anticipated second book weaves sonnet, song, and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers directly before and after the Civil War up to World War I. “Olio” is an effort to understand how they met, resisted, complicated, co-opted, and sometimes defeated attempts to minstrelize them.

Good day, love. This week we wrestle with long response times from journals *cough* Tin House *cough cough*, and sit down with one of our favs Quenton Baker over New Formalist Old Fashioneds. QUENTON BAKER is a poet, educator, and Cave Canem fellow. His current focus is anti-blackness and the afterlife of slavery. His work has appeared in Jubilat, Vinyl, Apogee, Poetry Northwest, Pinwheel, and Cura and in the anthologies Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters and It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop. He has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Southern Maine and is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is a 2017 Jack Straw Fellow and a former Made at Hugo House fellow, as well as the recipient of the 2016 James W. Ray Venture Project Award and the 2018 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust. He is the author of This Glittering Republic (Willow Books, 2016). NEW FORMALIST OLD FASHIONED: Like the poets in the late 20th and early 21st century who tried to put a modern spin on traditional metrical forms and rhyme schemes, we've revamped Don Draper's favorite cocktail with rye whiskey, cardamom bitters, and a dash of orange blossom water. The NFOF is perfect for those looking for a spicier, more botanical take on this classic sip. Stir, don't shake, and serve over ice in a short, stemless glass. Pairs well with floral hoodies, QFC muhammara dip, and our episode with Quenton Baker. INGREDIENTS: 2 oz rye whiskey (we used Templeton); 4 drops cardamom bitters; a dash of orange blossom water; a smidge of simple syrup; orange peel garnish   REFERENCES: This Glittering Republic and Ballast (a Frye Art Museum Exhibit) by Quenton Baker; Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and 20th-Century American Poetry by Lorenzo Thomas; Dante Micheaux; Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth Century America by Saidiya Hartman; Fred Moten; Gwendolyn Brooks; Henry "Box" Brown; Olio by Tyehimba Jess; Phillis Wheatley; Citizen by Claudia Rankine

Our student writing this week is titled "Society Weighs Me Down." Matt and Alvin talk about the individual and the larger community, and how one affects the other in deliberate ways or not. Matt gives an update on the process of publishing the UW anthology and thoroughly recommends the book of poetry by Tyehimba Jess titled Olio. Note: We are a creative writing program serving at-risk populations. We do not broadcast names or identifying details of the students we work with. LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology Olio, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner by Tyehimba Jess Commonplace Podcast by Rachel Zucker music by The Eisenhauers

Our student writing this week is titled "Society Weighs Me Down." Matt and Alvin talk about the individual and the larger community, and how one affects the other in deliberate ways or not.  Matt gives an update on the process of publishing the UW anthology and thoroughly recommends the book of poetry by Tyehimba Jess titled Olio.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess, author of 2018 Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selection Olio, joins Atom Atkinson this episode to discuss his life, career and writing process. As part of a week at Chautauqua celebrating "The Life of the Written Word," Jess presented Olio to the Chautauqua Amphitheater audience, taught a master class titled “Show the Receipts: Historical Documentation in Poetic Form” and even heard a performance inspired by his work by the Chautauqua Opera Company. Jess is an award-winning poet and teacher. Olio, his latest book, has received numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and The Midland Society Author’s Award in Poetry. Jess' previous works include African American Pride: Celebrating Our Achievements, Contributions, and Enduring Legacy, and leadbelly, which was published as one of five selections of the 2004 National Poetry Series. His honors include a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Award, and a Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award. He has taught at the Juilliard School and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and currently serves on the faculty at the College of Staten Island in New York City. Follow him on Twitter at @TyehimbaJess. Atkinson is a poet and serves as director of literary arts at Chautauqua Institution. Follow them on Twitter at @AtomAtkinson.

We're celebrating the last episode of our first season with a special double feature, recorded live at Java River Cafe in Montevideo, Minnesota. Our guests are Chris Koza and Malena Handeen. Chris Koza is the frontman of the Americana rock band Rogue Valley. In this interview, he reads a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith that helped inspire his new side project, Nobody Kid. Malena Handeen is a painter, songwriter, and organic vegetable farmer based in Western Minnesota. In this episode, she reads a poem by Tyehimba Jess and discusses how the weather affects her creative life. Later on, members of our audience participate in our first ever live Haiku Hotline. "The Museum of Obsolescence" by Tracy K. Smith appears in the book Life on Mars, published by Graywolf Press. "What the Wind, Rain and Thunder Said to Tom" by Tyehimba Jess appears in the book Olio, published by Wave Books. Subscribe on RadioPublic, iTunes, or Stitcher.

Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Midland Society Author's Award in Poetry, and received an Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN Jean Stein Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Leadbelly was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the “Best Poetry Books of 2005.” Jess, a Cave Canem and NYU Alumni, received a 2004 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a 2004–2005 Winter Fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Jess is also a veteran of the 2000 and 2001 Green Mill Poetry Slam Team, and won a 2000–2001 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry, the 2001 Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Award, and a 2006 Whiting Fellowship. He presented his poetry at the 2011 TedX Nashville Conference and won a 2016 Lannan Literary Award in Poetry. Jess is Poetry and Fiction Editor of African American Review and Professor of English at College of Staten Island. Jess' fiction and poetry have appeared in many journals, as well as anthologies such as Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, Beyond The Frontier: African American Poetry for the Twenty-First Century, Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Power Lines: Ten Years of Poetry from Chicago's Guild Complex, and Slam: The Art of Performance Poetry.

Tyehimba Jess is the author of leadbelly and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Olio. leadbelly was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the "Best Poetry Books of 2005." Jess's second book, Olio, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the 2017 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the 2017 Book Award for Poetry from the Society of Midland Authors. It was also a finalist for the 2016 National Books Critics Circle Award, 2017 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and the 2017 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Library Journal called it a "daring collection, which blends forthright, musically acute language with portraiture" and Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, called it "Encyclopedic, ingenious, and abundant" and selected it as one of the five best poetry books of 2016. (Photo from Wave Books website, credit: John Midgley)

“This 21st century hymnal of black evolutionary poetry, this almanac, this theatrical melange of miraculous meta-memory. Tyehimba Jess is inventive, prophetic, wondrous. He writes unflinchingly into the historical clefs of blackface, black sound, human sensibility. After the last poem is read we have no idea how long we’ve been on our knees.”—Nikky Finney “Olio is […] The post Tyehimba Jess : Olio appeared first on Tin House.

Tyehimba Jess reads and discusses a poem from his most recent book, Olio.

Friday Reading Series Janice A. Lowe, composer and poet, is a co-founder of the Dark Room Collective. Her collection, Leaving CLE poems of nomadic dispersal (Miami University Press) moves from Cleveland to NYC to Tuscaloosa's “schoolhouse door” and back. She is also the author of the chapbook SWAM (Belladonna Series). Her poems have been published in Callaloo, American Poetry Review, In the Tradition and The Hat and appear on a digital album with Drew Gardner's Poetics Orchestra. Her essays have appeared in Sing the Sun Up and The Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook. She was a writer-in-residence with Melted Away's The American Dream Project. A Jonathan Larson Dramatists Guild Fellow, she is the composer of 5 full-length musicals and well over 200 songs for theater/musical theater/opera, which have been performed extensively in New York City and regionally. Her love of setting all manner of text to music has resulted in collaborations with writers Tyehimba Jess, Nehassaiu deGannes, Jenni Lamb and others. As a pianist-vocalist, she has performed with The Jones Twins and with the experimental bands w/o a net, HAGL and Digital Diaspora. She teaches youth songwriting workshops and has taught Poetry and Performance at Purchase College and at Naropa University's Summer Writing Program. She holds an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts. Pamela Sneed is a New York based poet and actress. She has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Out, Bomb, VIBE, and on the cover of New York Magazine. She is author of Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery (Henry Holt, 1998), KONG (Vintage Entity Press, 2009) and the chapbook Lincoln (2014). Her work is included in the 100 Best African American Poems edited by Nikki Giovanni, Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays 2013, and Ping Pong Magazine.

Adam Haslett on his new novel, Imagine Me Gone; Leigh Stein on BinderCon; readings by poets Tyehimba Jess and Brenda Shaughnessy.

The Great Migration gave birth to a new brand of blues in Chicago, and Chess Records helped make it famous. Sterling Plumpp and Tyehimba Jess read their bluesy poetry.

"Confronting the Warpland: Black Poets of Chicago" is a one-hour radio documentary presenting African American poets who have found influence and inspiration living in Chicago. Beginning with the Great Migration of the early 20th century when millions of African Americans came from the South to the urban North, the program examines the ways in which black poets have chronicled Chicago’s complex history through poetry and continue to do so today. The documentary features poets Gwendolyn Brooks, Tyehimba Jess, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Haki Madhubuti, Sterling Plumpp, and Margaret Walker in interviews, readings, and archival recordings. "Confronting the Warpland: Black Poets of Chicago" is a production of the Poetry Foundation. It was written and produced by Ed Herrmann and narrated by Richard Steele.