Poet Jericho Brown Discusses his 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winner "The Tradition"

Today, we’re celebrating Pride month by revisiting my 2021 conversation with poet, 2011 NEA Literature Fellow, and 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winner Jericho Brown. In this poetry-filled podcast, Brown walks us through his writing of his prize-winning collection The Tradition in particular and poetry in general.  He reads a number of poems and discusses his creative process, his exploration of the themes of love, race, sexuality, violence, and spirituality in his work, explains the new poetic form he invented called “the duplex” (and gives us poetic examples of it,) and talks about the significance of Black queer poetry and its capacity to expand our concept of love. We also discuss the poets and writers who have influenced and shaped Brown's own artistic journey, his reflections on winning the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for “The Tradition,” his thoughts on the importance of diverse voices in literature and the role of poetry in fostering empathy and understanding in a divided world.