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Kevin Young is Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library and poetry editor of The New Yorker. He is the former curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University. His books of poetry include Brown, Dear Darkness, and Jelly Roll- A Blues. He has previously edited the anthology Blues Poems, Jazz Poems, and, for Library of America, John Berryman- Selected Poems.
A defining, glorious, and invaluable anthology of African American poetry that reaches back to 1770 and concludes with today's artistic flourishing in sync with Black Lives Matter. Vitality, beauty, anger, sorrow, humor, and hope all find original, resonant, and consummate expression throughout this expert gathering of works by both celebrated poets and many who will be new to readers, especially women and LGBTQ poets from earlier eras, and all 250 poets are succinctly profiled. Kevin Young provides a historical and literary framework in eight chronological sections, each discussed in substantial and enlightening detail in his elegantly composed and dynamic introduction. His coverage includes pivotal creative movements, including not only the Harlem Renaissance, but also the Chicago Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and such writing collectives as June Jordan's Poetry for the People, Cave Canem, and the Dark Room Collective. In this powerhouse anthology, African American poets are clearly in dialogue with each other across generations, sustaining community. Written under siege both obvious and insidious, their poems engage with every aspect of life while tracking the ongoing quest for equality and justice. A profound and affirming pleasure to read and an imperative resource for every public library. --Booklist (Starred review) One of the U.S.'s most talented poets, Kevin Young is the perfect guide to reconstruct the American canon. His sweeping anthology of African-American poetry across U.S. history is an exhilarating collection of voices that have helped shape the country, many of whom never got their full due. By including new forms and overlooked schools, Young's anthology promises to rewrite the history of American verse. --TIME magazine (The 42 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2020) The giants are well represented in this enormous collection, including Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove and Natasha Tretheway. But so are more than 200 other poets worthy of wider recognition. --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (33 Books to Read this Fall) New Yorker poetry editor Kevin Young takes on the monumental task of condensing 250 years of African-American poetry into this must-own anthology... Discover it. --THE WEEK (21 Books to Read this Fall) This thousand-page collection should be required reading for all Americans. --San Francisco Chronicle Incendiary and dazzling... --Poets & Writers African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song is one impressive collection ...This is a book to be passed from hand to hand, generation to generation. -- Shelf Awareness (Starred review) With this monumental work, Young has provided a lasting contribution to historical preservation and poetry. --Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
