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Terrance Hayes

テランス・ヘイズ

Teransu Heizu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1971-11-18 （Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Japan → Ohio, U.S. → New Orleans, U.S. → Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. → Greenwich Village, New York City, U.S. → New York City, U.S.

Career

Occupations
Poet, Educator, Professor
Active Years
1999-
Affiliations
Carnegie Mellon University (faculty), University of Pittsburgh (English Department), New York University (Creative Writing faculty)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (Elected Chancellor), American Academy of Arts and Letters (Elected)
Influenced By
Maya Angelou (encouraged Hayes early in his career), Etheridge Knight

Education

Coker University
English and Painting
Degree: B.A.
Country: United States
Studied English and painting; played basketball and earned Academic All-American honors.
University of Pittsburgh
Creative Writing (M.F.A. program)
Degree: M.F.A.
Year of Graduation: 1997
Country: United States
Received M.F.A. in 1997.

Awards

Whiting Award
1999
Work: Muscular Music
Organization: Whiting Foundation
Result: winner
Kate Tufts Discovery Award
1999
Work: Muscular Music
Organization: Kate Tufts Foundation
Result: winner
National Poetry Series
2001
Work: Hip Logic
Organization: National Poetry Series
Result: winner
Pushcart Prize
2005
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
2009
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: recipient
National Book Award for Poetry
2010
Work: Lighthead
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
United States Artists - Zell Fellow for Literature
2011
Organization: United States Artists
Result: fellow
MacArthur Fellowship
2014
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: fellow
Pegasus Award in Poetry Criticism
2019
Work: To Float in the Space Between
Organization: Pegasus Award
Result: winner
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
2019
Work: American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
Organization: Hurston/Wright Foundation
Result: winner
Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry
2020
Work: American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: winner
Hall-Waters Prize (Troy University)
2023
Organization: Troy University
Result: recipient
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Muscular Music

1999 Poetry

Debut collection featuring muscular rhythms and personal narratives.

physicalityidentityrhythm

Hip Logic

2002 Poetry

A collection with an experimental voice and urban sensibility; selected by the National Poetry Series.

urban lifewordplayindividual and society

Wind in a Box

2006 Poetry

A collection notable for its varied voices and poetic experimentation.

varied voicesimaginationexperimentation

Lighthead

2010 Poetry

A formally innovative collection that includes poems using the 'golden shovel' form; won the National Book Award.

formal innovationlinguistic rhythmrace and personal history

How to Be Drawn

2015 Poetry

A collection linking visual imagery and personal memory; showcases Hayes's artistic sensibility.

memoryvisualityself

American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin

2018 Poetry

A collection addressing contemporary American politics and race; includes poems used in the song cycle 'Cycles of My Being'.

racepoliticsmasculinity
Adaptations
  • [Song cycle / Opera (based on poems)] Cycles of My Being / Tyshawn Sorey (作曲) (2020)

So To Speak

2023 Poetry

A 2023 collection reflecting on history, headlines, and the self.

historymediaself-reflection

Watch Your Language

2023 Poetry

A collection that interrogates language and its uses.

languageexpressionpower

Bibliography

  • Muscular Music (1999)
  • Hip Logic (2002)
  • Wind in a Box (2006)
  • Lighthead (2010)
  • How to Be Drawn (2015)
  • American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (2018)
  • To Float in the Space Between (2018, nonfiction)
  • So To Speak (2023)
  • Watch Your Language (2023)

Adaptations

  • Cycles of My Being (song cycle / opera) - commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and others; filmed and released digitally in 2020

Style & Themes

Literary Style
formal experimentationrhythmic languagefusion of visual imagery and sound
Recurring Motifs
race and identitymasculinityurban lifemusical rhythm

Legacy

Terrance Hayes is a poet whose formal innovations and powerful voice have influenced contemporary American poetry; he is a National Book Award and MacArthur Fellow recipient and has impacted younger poets as an educator.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets (involvement)
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters (elected)

Archives

  • Library of Congress (possible holdings of related materials)
  • Poetry-related archives (university and publisher collections)

In Popular Culture

  • The performance and filming of 'Cycles of My Being' brought his poetry into staged and digital performance contexts.
  • Participation in international poetry festivals (e.g., Poesiefestival Berlin).

Quotes

  • First you'll marvel at his skill, his near-perfect pitch, his disarming humor, his brilliant turns of phrase. Then you'll notice the grace, the tenderness, the unblinking truth-telling just beneath his lines, the open and generous way he takes in our world.
    Source: Praise by Cornelius Eady (poetry endorsement) (2009)

Trivia

  • Known for popularizing the 'Golden Shovel' poetic form.
  • Former spouse is poet Yona Harvey; the couple have two children (divorced).
  • Reported to have dated Padma Lakshmi in 2021.
  • Has taught at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and New York University.
  • Won the 2010 National Book Award (Poetry) for Lighthead and received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2014.