John Murillo
Visiting Poet
From a sonnet cycle scrutinizing the nature of justice through the blur of a city aflame to an image of Medusa, lighting a spliff and spreading tarot cards across the apartment floor, John Murillo’s Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020) is a lyrical masterwork, mixing epiphany and grief in poems about the African American experience. Described by poet Kwame Dawes as “songs of irresistible vulnerability, tough truth-telling, cutting wit, and formal command,” Murillo's poems address the impact of historical and contemporary injustices while capturing the complexities of love, rage, and resilience in a turbulent world.
Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and was a finalist for several others including the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry and the NAACP Image Award. He is also the author of Up Jump the Boogie (Four Way Books, 2020; Cypher, 2010) which was a finalist for both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the PEN Open Book Award. He has held fellowships from prestigious institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and Cave Canem. Murillo's poems have been featured in American Poetry Review, POETRY, and Best American Poetry 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Co-sponsored by The Lecture Committee, Africana Studies, American Studies, the Archives Concentration, the Department of English Language and Literature, the Office for Equity and Inclusion, and the Study of Women and Gender.
Murillo will read with Nicole Sealey at Leo Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 7 p.m. Livestreams will be available on BDPC Facebook and YouTube pages.