Yusef Komunyakaa

Poet

Yusef Komunyakaa is the author of twelve books of poetry, the most recent of which include Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems, Talking Dirty to the Gods and Thieves of Paradise. The latter titles were finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Forthcoming is a collection of poem entitled Scandalize My Name (Picador, UK). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Neon Vernacular in 1994. He has also published Blue Notes: Essays, Interviews and Commentaries and co-edited The Jazz Poetry Anthology and The Second Set: The Jazz Poetry Anthology.

Poems of his have been selected regularly for the Best American Poetry and a recent essay appears in The Best American Essays of 2001. He received the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize in May, 2001. Testimony, a musical work that tributes the life of Charlie Parker with composer Sandy Evans and Director Nigel Jamieson will be performed in Australia in 2003. Ish-scoodah, another performance work that focuses on Edmonia Lewis, the sculptor of Chippewa and African-American heritages also premieres in 2002. His collaborations with musicians have resulted in a number of CD recordings including Pamela Knowles: Thirteen Kinds of Desire. He is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing Program at Princeton University.