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Kevin Young

ケヴィン・ヤング

Kevin Young

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1970-11-08 （Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Lincoln, Nebraska → Topeka, Kansas → Atlanta, Georgia (while at Emory University) → Washington, D.C.

Career

Occupations
poet, professor, editor, literary critic
Active Years
1992-
Affiliations
Emory University (Atticus Haygood Professor; curator of Raymond Danowski Poetry Library), New York Public Library / Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Director), The New Yorker (Poetry Editor), Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (Director)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Society of American Historians, Academy of American Poets (Chancellor)
Influenced By
Langston Hughes, John Berryman, Emily Dickinson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Michael S. Harper, Seamus Heaney

Education

Harvard College
Degree: AB
Period: 1988–1992
Year of Graduation: 1992
Country: United States
Studied with Seamus Heaney and others
Brown University
Degree: MFA
Period: 1994–1996
Year of Graduation: 1996
Country: United States
Influenced by Michael S. Harper

Awards

John C. Zacharis First Book Prize (Ploughshares)
1993
Work: Most Way Home
Organization: Ploughshares
Result: 受賞
National Book Award (Poetry)
2003
Work: Jelly Roll: A Blues
Category: 詩
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 最終候補（ファイナリスト）
Guggenheim Fellowship
2003
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
Patterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement
2007
Organization: Patterson family / related organization
Result: 受賞
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
2015
Work: Book of Hours
Category: 詩
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
2014
Work: Book of Hours
Category: 詩
Organization: Claremont Graduate University
Result: 受賞
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (Nonfiction)
2017
Work: Bunk
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf
Result: 受賞
T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist)
2021
Work: Stones
Category: 詩
Organization: T. S. Eliot Prize organizers
Result: ショートリスト
Harvard Arts Medal
2024
Organization: Harvard University
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Most Way Home

1995 Poetry

An early collection exploring family narratives and voice; selected for the National Poetry Series.

familycoming-of-ageidentity

Jelly Roll: A Blues

2003 Poetry (blues-inspired)

A collection of love poems woven with blues tradition; finalist for the National Book Award.

musicloveAmerican tradition

Book of Hours

2014 Poetry

A volume meditating on time, loss, and family memory; recipient of several awards.

timelossmemory

Bunk

2017 Nonfiction

A nonfiction investigation into the history of hoaxes, humbug, and fake news in the U.S.; won Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

hoaxes/fake newscultural historymedia criticism

Stones

2021 Poetry

A collection addressing personal and historical themes; shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize.

memoryhistorypersonal history

Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems, 1995-2015

2016 Poetry (selected)

A selection of poems and uncollected pieces from 1995–2015; longlisted for the National Book Award (Autobiography/Biography category in 2016 listing).

bluesretrospectionAmerican society

Bibliography

  • Most Way Home (1995)
  • To Repel Ghosts: Five Sides in B Minor (2001)
  • Jelly Roll: A Blues (2003)
  • Black Maria: Being the Adventures of Delilah Redbone & A.K.A. Jones: Poems (2005)
  • For the Confederate Dead: Poems (2007)
  • Dear Darkness: Poems (2008)
  • Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels (2011)
  • Book of Hours: Poems (2014)
  • Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems, 1995–2015 (2016)
  • Brown: Poems (2018)
  • Stones (2021)
  • Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (2017)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Musical, blues- and jazz-inflected idiomModern poetic forms combining narrative and experimentation
Recurring Motifs
music (especially the blues)family and personal historyAmerican history and raceloss and memory

Legacy

Considered a leading contemporary American poet whose work fuses musical sensibility with cultural-historical insight. He has had significant influence through institutional leadership, curation, and public engagement in addition to his poetry.

Museums

  • National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) Washington, D.C. Opened in 2016
  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library) New York (Harlem) Opened in 1925

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • Society of American Historians
  • Academy of American Poets (Chancellor)

Archives

  • Raymond Danowski Poetry Library (Emory University)

Quotes

  • He has described his next three books—To Repel Ghosts, Jelly Roll, and Black Maria—as an 'American trilogy,' calling the series 'Devil's Music.'
    Source: Interview / Wikipedia summary (2017)
  • He has described a forthcoming collection as being about African American history and also personal history, growing up in Kansas.
    Source: Interview / Wikipedia summary (2017)

Trivia

  • Married Kate Tuttle in 2005.
  • Named poetry editor of The New Yorker in 2017 (began November 2017).
  • Named director of the Smithsonian NMAAHC in 2021; went on personal leave in 2025 and stepped down in April 2025.
  • Author of 11 books and editor of eight others (per available records).