Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, writer, and dessert enthusiast from Columbus, Ohio. He is the editor of Again I Wait For This To Pull Apart, an anthology forthcoming from Freezeray Press. His work has been published in Radius, Stirring, Muzzle, Vinyl, joINT, Borderline, and various other journals. He has been nominated for the pushcart prize, and his poem “Hestia” won the 2014 Capital University poetry prize. His first collection of poems, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, was released by Button Poetry in 2016. He wants to talk to you about the Cincinnati Bengals and your top 5 albums.

The Crown Ain't Worth Much

The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, Hanif Abdurraqib’s first full-length collection, is a sharp and vulnerable portrayal of city life in the United States. New York Times best-selling author, Abdurraqib brings his interest in pop culture to these poems, analyzing race, gender, family, and the love that finally holds us together even as it threatens to break us. The poems in this collection are challenging and accessible at once, as they seek to render real human voices in moments of tragedy and celebration.

Awards

2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award – Grand Prize Finalist
2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award – Honorable Mention (Poetry)
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award – Nominee

Praise for Hanif Abdurraqib

“Hanif Abdurraqib’s The Crown Ain’t Worth Much leaves me contemplating the meanings of soul: communal soul (peep the breadth of cultural shout outs), rhythmic soul (peep the breadth of sound and syntax), and spiritual soul (peep the breadth of compassion). As titles like “Ode to Drake, Ending with Blood in a Field” and “At the House Party Where We Found Out Whitney Houston Was Dead” suggest, Abdurraqib bridges the bravado and bling of praise with the blood and tears of elegy. The soul of this magnificent book is dynamic, distinguished, and when called for, down and dirty. What a fresh, remarkable debut.”
— Terrance Hayes, National Book Award winner, Lighthead

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