Black Poetry Findings #1

In these years, Robin Coste Lewis published (her first) three collections with Knopf in rapid succession—Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems in 2015 (just before this decade begins), then To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness in 2022 and Archive of Desire in 2025—harkening back to a longstanding legacy of Knopf supporting Black poets. --L.V.

Harryette Mullen’s 2023 collection Open Leaves: Poems From Earth appeared with Black Sunflowers Press, established in 2020 specifically to promote works by women and Black poets; it was the first in a Black Sunflowers Press series of poet-visual artist collaborations, between Mullen and Tiffanie Delune. --L.V.

Within the time period 2016 – 2026, three African American poets won Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, Tyehimba Jess in 2017, Jericho Brown in 2020, and Carl Phillips in 2023.--H.R.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux emerges as an important publisher of Black men poets in the dataset, publishing works by Ishion Hutchinson, Carl Phillips, Shane McCrae, and Yusef Komunyakaa. --H.R.

Related:
• Black Poetry Findings