Poetry News & Events

Sweetgum & Lighting, a debut poetry collection by Alumnus Rodney Terich Leonard '18, will be released on February 15, 2021 by Four Way Books.

Interstate Highway System, a poem by alumnus Adam O. Davis '06 recently published in The Believer, has been selected for inclusion in Best American Poetry by alumna Tracy K. Smith '97.

Ghost Letters, a collection of poetry by alumnus Baba Badji '15, was released by Parlor Press on January 1, 2021. Excerpts from Ghost Letters can be found here. 

The Yale University Library recently announced that alumna Mei-mei Berssenbrugge '73 is the winner of the 2021 Bollingen Prize for Poetry. 

The Brooklyn Public Library recently announced that alumnus Cyrée Jarelle Johnson '19 will be the library's first ever Poet-in-Residence. 

Alumnus Rafiq Kathwari '00 recently published his newest collection of poems, My Mother's Scribe, with Yoda Press. 

Our Word recently hosted poet Tracy K. Smith '97 and fiction writer Paige Morris for a panel on translation, race, and gender called Translating Identity.

Alumnus Cyrée Jarelle Johnson '19 has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Split this Rock for their poem, "chewbacca was the blackest part of The Force Awakens."

The Poetry Concentration continued its Alumni Reading Series with readings from William Brewer '14, Adjunct Assistant Professor Monica Ferrell '02, Stefania Heim '04, and Mai Der Vang '14. 2020 marks the fifth anniversary of the annual reading series.

Alumna Abbigail N. Rosewood '17 recently collaborated with She Who Has No Master(s)—a collective of Vietnamese women who engage in a collaborative art and writing process—and her work is now viewable in an online gallery space powered by Matterport.

The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University recently featured Associate Professor Deborah Paredez in its New Books in the Arts & Sciences lecture series.

Last week, the Poetry Society of America announced that alumnus Nathan Xavier Osorio '16 won a 2020 30 & Under Chapbook Fellowship.