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Poetry and Prose

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Speaker Biography

Yusef Komunyakaa, born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, is the author of twelve books of poetry, among them Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times calls his writing “fiercely autobiographical” poetry, with much of it based on his childhood in
the rural South and his experience as a young
adult in Vietnam. 

His Thieves of Paradise and Talking Dirty to the Gods were finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and other honors include a Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the William Faulkner Prize from the Université de Rennes, the Hanes Poetry Prize and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.  He is Professor and Distinguished Senior Poet at New York University and served as a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets from 1999 to 2005. His most recent book is Gilgamesh, a verse play (concept and dramaturgy by Chad Gracia), published by Wesleyan University Press in November 2006.