H. MacKnight Black Poetry Reading with Aracelis Girmay

Aracelis Girmay is a poet who makes works across genres. She is the author of the poetry collections GREEN OF ALL HEADS (BOA, 2025), the black maria (BOA, 2016), Kingdom Animalia (BOA, 2011), and Teeth (Curbstone, 2007). For her work she was named a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2018. Her books have also been named finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. She has received fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, Civitella Ranieri, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Cave Canem Foundation, among other foundations. Girmay is the author of the chapbook, and was a flower, made in collaboration with book artist Valentina Améstica. Other recent collaborations include the picture books Kamau & ZuZu Find a Way with artist Diana Ejaita and What Do You Know? with artist Ariana Fields (both published with Enchanted Lion). Commissioned by the Authors Guild in collaboration with Tanglewood, Girmay is currently working on an experiment for the stage with director Dawn M. Simmons and musicians Ashleigh Gordon and Brittany J. Green.

Girmay is the editor of How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton (BOA, 2020) and So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth (Haymarket Books, 2023). She is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund and in 2025 completed her final year as Editor-at-Large for the Blessing the Boats Selections.