University of Richmond
Richmond, Virginia

Kevin Young is widely regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation, one who finds meaning and inspiration in African American music, particularly the blues, and in the bittersweet history of Black America. He was a 1993 National Poetry Series winner for Most Way Home, which also received the John C. Zacharis First Book Award of Ploughshares magazine. Other collections include To Repel Ghosts: Five Sides in B Minor (2001), a poetic tribute to painter and graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jelly Roll: A Blues (2003), a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Along with his books, Young's poems and prose have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, and Callaloo. Currently a professor of poetry at Emory University, his latest book is Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008). A conversation with Colson Whitehead will follow Young’s poetry reading.

Official Website: http://news.richmond.edu/english/2009/english-writers-series.html

Added by RVANews on October 12, 2009

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