Yesterday I was honored to introduce Dr Jericho Brown at a poetry reading at my college. He is an amazing poet and writer, and his first book Please just came out. Last year Dr Jericho chose one of my poems for a poetry prize, so It was a huge honor to introduce him last night. I want to encourage everyone to buy it! I am gonna post bellow part of my speech which contains a Bio on him and his new poetry book.
Also here is his websiteDr Jericho Brown is a poet, Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at University of San Diego. He received his PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston, holds an MFA from University of New Orleans as well as a BA from Dillard University. He is also a past editor at Gulf Coast and Callaloo. He also received two travel fellowships to the Krakow Poetry Seminar in Poland. His work has been featured in Oxford American, New England Review, and The Iowa Review. As well as worked as the speechwriter for the Mayor of New Orleans. Now his first book Please, has already won The American Book Award in 2009.
In his poetry book Please, He creates tracks as the soundtrack to a culture and history of our lives. The book is in four parts Repeat, Pause, Power, and Stop. He sings, shouts, and screams through the voices of famous icons such as Diane Ross, Janis Joplin, and the scarecrow from the wizard of Oz in order to send a message to his readers. Please is described as “Exploring the points in our lives at which love and violence intersect.” He creates an album; the poems are the tracks to his own music, a culture of African American history as well as the struggle of male identity and sexuality. His poems are alive, and will march right up to you with something to say.
