Kevin Young

Poetry Editor, The New Yorker

Kevin Young is the Poetry Editor of The New Yorker and the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, newly named a National Historic Landmark. He is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Graywolf Press, 2017) and Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015 (Knopf, 2016), both of which were longlisted for the National Book Award; Book of Hours (Knopf, 2014), a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize for Poetry from the Academy of American Poets; Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels (Knopf, 2011), winner of an American Book Award; and Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008). His collection Jelly Roll: a blues (Knopf, 2003) was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Young’s previous nonfiction book The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness (Graywolf Press, 2012) won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the PEN Open Book Award; it was also a New York Times Notable Book for 2012 and a finalist for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. He is the editor of eight other collections, most recently The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1965-2010 (BOA Editions, 2012) and The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink (Bloomsbury, 2012). Named University Distinguished Professor at Emory University, Young was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.

Kevin Young appears in the following:

Smithsonian director Kevin Young on the power of unexpected transformations

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Kevin Young, poetry editor for The New Yorker and director of Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, talks about the power of unexpected transformations.

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Sandra Cisneros Reads José Antonio Rodríguez

Friday, September 30, 2022

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Shelter,” by José Antonio Rodríguez, and her own poem “Tea Dance, Provincetown, 1982.” 

Diane Seuss Reads Jane Huffman

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Ode,” by Jane Huffman, and her own poem “Gertrude Stein.”

Saeed Jones Reads Deborah Digges

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart,” by Deborah Digges, and his own poem “A Spell to Banish Grief.”

Eileen Myles Reads Joy Harjo

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

The poet joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Without,” by Joy Harjo, and their own poem “Dissloution.”

Christian Wiman Reads Patrizia Cavalli

Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Christian Wiman joins Kevin Young to discuss “Far from Kingdoms” and “Outside, In Fact, There Wasn't Any Change,” by Patrizia Cavalli, and his own poem “Eating Grapes Downward.”

Amanda Gorman Reads Tracy K. Smith

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Amanda Gorman joins Kevin Young to discuss “Declaration,” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “Ship’s Manifest.”

Aria Aber Reads Frank Bidart

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Aria Aber joins Kevin Young to discuss “Half Light,” by Frank Bidart, and her own poem “Dirt and Light.”

Forrest Gander Reads Ada Limón

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Forrest Gander joins Kevin Young to discuss “Privacy,” by Ada Limón, and his own poem “Post-Fire Forest.”

Kevin Young on Poetry and History

Wednesday, October 06, 2021

Kevin Young talks about his new book and his new job as director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“To Claim What Has Tried to Claim Me”: A Roundtable on Asian-American Poetics

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Kevin Young in conversation with Kimiko Hahn, Monica Youn, Paul Tran, and Megan Fernandes.

Toi Derricotte Reads Tracy K. Smith

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Toi Derricotte joins Kevin Young to discuss “We Feel Now a Largeness Coming On,” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “I give in to an old desire.”

Margaret Atwood Reads Saeed Jones

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Margaret Atwood joins Kevin Young to discuss “A Stranger,” by Saeed Jones, and her own poem “Flatline.”

Arthur Sze Reads Robert Hass

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Arthur Sze joins Kevin Young to discuss “The Problem of Describing Trees,” by Robert Hass, and his own poem “Vectors.”

Kevin Young on African American Poetry Anthology

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Kevin Young, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, joins us to discuss editing the new anthology African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song.

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Joy Harjo Reads Sandra Cisneros

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Joy Harjo joins Kevin Young to discuss “Still-Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves,” by Sandra Cisneros, and her own poem “Running.”

Remembering Chadwick Boseman

Monday, August 31, 2020

Kelly L. Carter, senior entertainment writer at The Undefeated, and Kevin Young, director of the Schomberg Center, on the legacy of 'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman. 

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Radical Imagination: Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes on Poetry in Our Times

Friday, July 24, 2020

In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes join Kevin Young to read their work, and to discuss its relationship to protest. 

Clarence Major Reads Billy Collins

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Major joins Kevin Young to discuss “Downpour,” by Billy Collins, and his own poem “Hair.”

NYPL's Reading List for Juneteenth

Friday, June 19, 2020

The New Yorker's poetry editor shares a reading list for Juneteenth.