ICYMI: The Last 2 Weeks in Black Writing and Culture (3/26-4/15)

The works of female artists are being featured in a resurgence of “women’s only” or “group show” exhibitions across the country. Though the practice fell out of favor after the 1970’s and 1980’s, some curators are calling this reviving trend a “curatorial corrective,” while female artists bristle at the thought of a “one and done” mentality that will not shift the overall landscape of the […]

Poetry and History: An Evening with U.S. Poet Laureate (2012-2014) Natasha Trethewey

[by Meredith Wiggins] Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey spoke and read poems about art, family, and race as part of the Hall Center for the Humanities 2014-2015 Humanities Lecture Series on Tuesday, March 3. All her poetry begins with a question she wants to answer, Trethewey said. In the case of 2012’s Thrall, her most recent collection, the primary question was how Enlightenment thinking […]

Poet Notes #1

[by Hoke Glover] The world of poetry is like many of those integrated worlds that exist in America. There a careful balance is kept between the minority percentages and the hidden rules that govern the overall image of the enterprise. It is a neighborhood of sorts. If the amount of Blacks involved reaches 40 percent, there is a tipping point of sorts and some whites […]

Black Poetry after the Black Arts Movement: A Closer Look

[by Kristin Joi Coffey] The Project on the History of Black Writing is excited to announce our 2015 Summer Institute, Black Poetry after the Black Arts Movement, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Annually, the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of Education funds a variety of summer institutes for educators. This year, Black Poetry continues the work undertaken by our 2013 institute, […]

Nathaniel Mackey, Black Poetry after the Black Arts Movement Speaker, Awarded 2015 Bollingen Prize

HBW is proud to congratulate poet Nathaniel Mackey, who will serve as a speaker at HBW’s upcoming NEH Summer Institute Black Poetry after the Black Arts Movement, on winning Yale University’s prestigious 2015 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry! “I’m thrilled to learn that I’ve been awarded the Bollingen Prize,” Mackey says. “Joining so distinguished a group of recipients makes it especially moving. I’m deeply honored […]