Profile: Yusef Komunyakaa

A look at some of the personalities at the TW Fest

Yusef Komunyakaa was born in Bogalusa, La. (a couple hours' drive north from New Orleans) and served in the Army during the Vietnam War--two experiences that inform his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry (he won in 1994 for his collection Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems). One of his most famous poems, "Facing It," is a meditation on the Vietnam Veterans' War Memorial in Washington, D.C. He is currently a professor at Princetown University.

Komunyakaa is credited with bringing the syncopations of jazz and Southern music into poetry; he is supposed to be a terrific speaker and a mesmerizing reader. The Academy of American Poets says:

Komunyakaa has long been inspired by the black musicians of the 1950s and 1960s who overcame obstacles of prejudice, crossed color lines in their choice of bandmates, and were embraced by the population as a whole, despite ongoing racism in the culture. To Komunyakaa, their careers demonstrate the ability of music to humanize and unite people, evidence of "democracy in action."

Click here to hear Yusef Komunyakaa read his poem "My Father's Love Letters."

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Fri., Mar. 30, 3:15 pm:
"Yusef Komunyakaa: All That Jazz" (master class)

Sat., Apr. 1, 2:30 pm:
"A Conversation with Yusef Komunyakaa"