PRESS/awards

  • NAACP Image Award for Poetry (2026) – The Intentions of Thunder

  • National Book Award for Poetry (2025) – The Intentions of Thunder

  • Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2021) – from the Poetry Foundation (lifetime achievement; one of the most prestigious honors in American poetry)

  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2018) – Incendiary Art

  • Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award (2018) – Incendiary Art

  • Pulitzer Prize Finalist (2018) – Incendiary Art

  • NAACP Image Award (2018) – Incendiary Art

  • National Poetry Slam Champion (4-time winner)

NAACP Image Award winner (2026)

National Book Award winner (2025)