Punks  has been out roughly two and a half weeks, but it has begun to receive some very good, thoughtful reviews. They include  a fine revie...

James Baldwin (Associated Press) "Until my father died I thought I could do something else. I had wanted to be a musician, thought...

A million congratulations to my Rutgers-Newark colleague Tayari Jones , on the publication of her new, fourth novel, An American Marriag...

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) One hundred years ago today, in Topeka, Kansas , Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born to Keziah Wims Brooks...

(Photo by John Phillips/Pool photo via AP) Congratulations to Paul Beatty , winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize , for his...

A few years ago, The New Yorker published an article, "The Dark Room Collective: Where Black Poetry Took Wing," about the Dark ...

From Isaac Julien's  Looking for Langston A month or so ago on Facebook, I casually mentioned that I'd taught an undergraduate ...

Recently BOMB Magazine   offered me and other writers and creative types the opportunity to share my thoughts some of the many books we...

Photo from Cultural Front (© Howard Rambsy II) UPDATED : Cultural Front  has added two new posts, " John Keene's 'Acrobat...

Greg Pardlo reading at his book party in November 2014 This afternoon I learned upon signing onto Facebook that the poet Greg Pardlo r...

Nathaniel Mackey The Bollingen Prize for American Poetry , administered by the Yale University's Beinecke Library , is one of the m...

Amiri Baraka (at right), at NYU, May 3, 2014 "What will be / the sacred words?" - Amiri Baraka A great light, a fire, a f...