ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (5/6-5/13)

As the academic semester comes to an end, Project HBW gives many thanks to all of our contributors and followers. Please continue spreading the word about Project HBW. If you would like to contribute to the blog, you can find the guidelines here.

Michael S. Harper passed away earlier this week. Harper was the first poet laureate of Rhode Island and was known for the incorporation of jazz elements into his poetry. Find HBW's tribute to Michael S. Harper here.

Jaswinder Bolinda wrote about the expression of race through poetry and the poetics of Donald Trump.

Kyla Marshell of the Poetry Foundation interviewed Tyehimba Jess on his newest book Olio (2016). "In an intricate assemblage of history, fiction, and poetic form," Marshell writes "Jess brings to life Scott Joplin, Blind Tom, the McKoy twins, Sissieretta Jones, and others, black musicians of the 19th century who were legends of their time yet never recorded."

In her poem "PWI Ten Commandments," Kwyn Townsend Riley speaks about the difficulties that black women face at predominately white institutions.

Elizabeth Lund of The Washington Post revisits the work of Rita Dove in her newest book, Collected Poems: 1974-2004, and reminds us why Rita Dove has been one of the greatest and most influential literary figures in the US. Dove's collection will be available through Amazon beginning May 17th.