Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown is an internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, and educator, who has won numerous awards for his poetry, including the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection The Tradition. He is the author of three books of poetry: The Indigo Letter, Please, and The Tradition, as well as a collection of poetic aphorisms, The New Testament. Brown’s work is acclaimed for its exploration of love and loss, identity, race, and sexuality, often through the lens of contemporary queer experiences.

Brown was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in the 1970s and spent his early years in the rural South and Southwest. His education included seminary at Morehouse College, followed by a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. He has taught and lectured at a range of institutions, including Stanford, Emory, and Harvard universities, as well as Mississippi State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Brown’s work has been featured in magazines such as Poetry, TriQuarterly, and The Antioch Review, and he is a regular contributor to NPR and other public radio shows. His essays and criticism have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and other prestigious magazines. He has also twice served as a Guest Editor of The Best American Poetry series.

Brown’s poetry is written around the theme of identity, and so his writing is often both powerful and personal. In his debut collection, The Indigo Letter, Brown explores the idea of being an outcast, being queer, and living in the shadow of shame. His second collection, Please, dives further into the facets of his identity, and takes readers into hyper-personal accounts of his life, as well as serious commentary on the American justice system, immigration policies, and the forces of discrimination in our society. Brown’s most recent work, The Tradition, combines both personal narrative and political commentary while weaving together a story of ancestry, ancestry’s legacies and mythology.

In the Tradition, Brown delves into the idea that the past can not be erased, writing: “I am my white ancestor’s dream, or nightmare / I am my black ancestor’s birthright, or burden.” Brown’s past, his exploration, reconciliation and reimagining of his lineage, is a testament to the power of poetry. His work is both personal and political, and his ability to reconcile themes of identity, race, sexuality, love and loss is a powerful example of the power of language.

He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Pushcart Prize, Academy of American Poets James Laughlin Award, fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation, and the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He is a Professor at Emory University and lives in Atlanta with his husband, the poet Eduardo C. Corral, and their two sons.

Brown’s poetry has generated a lot of discussion and debate, and some of his writing has been the subject of criticism and controversy. Despite this, his poetry has consistently earned him accolades and praise, including the Pulitzer Prize, which is usually seen as the ultimate accolade in the world of poetry. His work speaks to the parts of our experience that are hidden beneath conventional language and often made taboo. His exploration of identity and the depths of what brings us together but divides us makes for powerful and thought-provoking reading.