About the Author

John Murillo is the author of the poetry collections, Up Jump the Boogie (Cypher 2010, Four Way Books 2020), finalist for both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Pen Open Book Award, and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way 2020). His honors include two Larry Neal Writers Awards, a pair of Pushcart Prizes, the J Howard and Barbara MJ Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Cave Canem Foundation, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Recent poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in such publications as American Poetry Review, Poetry, and Best American Poetry 2017, 2019, and 2020. He is an assistant professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Wesleyan University and also teaches in the low residency MFA program at Sierra Nevada University. He lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

"Variations on a Theme by Elizabeth Bishop" was featured in The New York Times, selected by Reginald Dwayne Betts--selected by Reginald Dwayne Betts "The New York Times" (1/14/2021 12:00:00 AM)

Featured in Poets & Writers: https: //www.pw.org/content/page_one_where_new_and_noteworthy_books_begin_96.-- "Poets & Writers" (2/17/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"In his new collection (after Up Jump the Boogie), Murillo uses conversational but carefully crafted language to articulate the pure pain of living, particularly in a world contorted by institutional racism, and how he works daily to save himself." https: //www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=blackvoicesmatter2020--Barbara Hoffert "Library Journal" (6/23/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"...John Murillo's starting-to-buzz Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way, Mar.) chronicles a life defined by institutional racism, 'suffering each invisible star.'..."
https: //www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=ljx200101poetrycolldev&fbclid=IwAR292n6QGdE18QFO5ntK9Adzd_c6Vl9wUKZG_Zv90BUm2XLDuNlzOpRWkxo--Barbara Hoffert "Library Journal" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"...What a powerful book this is, told in a tone without trembling, nor any bravado. Lines of it will linger on your retina afterwards like these poems have been shown to you, in lamp light, or fire."
https: //lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2020/2/?single=true&fbclid=IwAR26dSQEJrbbw0I2F_HX2wjNRfJ1KdN2tOR8QDcOTBuBzsv6aiqApeu_eFo--John Freeman "LitHub" (1/14/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"John Murillo's Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry is a lyric burst of virtuosity and passion long in coming, something between song and prayer, centered on a fifteen-sonnet redoublé on the subject of murderous racism and the rage that pushes against it, the whole of the book becoming an ars poetica for memory as noose and history as burning church. Murillo is a poet for his time, equal to its urgency, and graced are we to have him among us in this time of need."
--Carolyn Forché

"John Murillo's stunning new collection speaks hard truths about the violence that afflicts our communities, our bodies, and our stories. Yet over this troubling arena, shaped by hostile social and political climates, a saving grace arises: Murillo's unfettered ability to get at the heart of the wound, giving us words that empower us to transcend the pain."
--Rigoberto González

"There is in John Murillo's art a dogged Americanness, a poet determined to assert himself within an America that has sought to deny his song and the songs from the rich African American tradition. And what songs these are! They are songs of irresistible vulnerability, tough truth-telling, cutting wit, and formal command. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry is a signature event in American poetry."
--Kwame Dawes

Featured in Craig Teicher's 2020 Preview for NPR: https: //www.npr.org/2020/02/13/804880385/keeping-the-dark-at-bay-a-2020-poetry-preview?fbclid=IwAR0mJ9sTvYrNhVjFl96Xdr-rYPZVfJq2b8zJbUcISom2XRLbQntIKE6p4_I--Craig Teicher "NPR" (2/13/2020 12:00:00 AM)