Jericho Brown

Poetry

Interviewed by: Angela Elam

Catalog Number(s): 20200515, 20180608, 20180112

Interview Year(s): 2017

Guggenheim fellow Jericho Brown describes the joy he finds in writing poetry and how his work helps him examine his world as a gay black man. He talks about some of his poetic mentors—from Emily Dickinson to Alice Walker—and the lessons he strives to pass along to his students at Emory University. He also reveals the story behind changing his name and discusses his childhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was raised by fundamental Christians. Brown reads from his second collection, The New Testament, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, as well as his earlier American Book Award winner, Please.

(Photo by Larry D. Moore CC BY-SA 4.0)