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Yusef Komunyakaa | |
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 Komunyakaa at the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Awards in March 2012; his book The Chameleon Couch was nominated for the poetry award. | |
| Born | James William Brown April 29, 1941[1][2] Bogalusa, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Education | University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (BA) Colorado State University (MA) University of California, Irvine (MFA) |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | "Facing It" "Neon Vernacular" "Talking Dirty to the Gods" |
| Notable awards | Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize; Zbigniew Herbert Award. |
Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941)[2] is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular[3] and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his contribution to poetry.
His subject matter ranges from the black experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights era and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.
- ^ This birth date is according to US Army discharge papers of 14 December 1966 and other evidence as cited by his former wife Mandy Sayer, although passport supposedly says 1947)
- ^ a b Sayer, Mandy, The Poet's Wife, Sydney-Melbourne-Auckland-London: Allen & Unwin, 2014, pp. 400–401.
- ^ Neon Vernacular excerpts.