American poet and educator
Terrance Hayes
Hayes reading at the Lannan Center 2020
Born (1971-11-18 ) November 18, 1971 (age 52) Columbia, South CarolinaOccupation Professor Nationality American Alma mater Genre Poetry Notable awards Spouse Yona Harvey (divorced)
terrancehayes .com
Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is an American poet and educator who has published seven poetry collections. His 2010 collection, Lighthead , won the
National Book Award for Poetry in 2010.
[1] In September 2014, he was one of 21 recipients of a prestigious
MacArthur Fellowship , awarded to individuals who show outstanding creativity in their work.
[2]
Life and education
Hayes was born in
Columbia, South Carolina .
[3] He received a B.A. from
Coker University and an M.F.A. from the
University of Pittsburgh writing program. He was a Professor of Creative Writing at
Carnegie Mellon University until 2013, at which time he joined the faculty at the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh.
[4] Currently, he teaches at
New York University .
[5]
Hayes lives in
Manhattan , and he and his ex-wife, the poet
Yona Harvey , a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, share the custody of their two children.
Career
Hayes's first book of poetry, Muscular Music (1999), won both a
Whiting Award and the
Kate Tufts Discovery Award .
[6] His second collection, Hip Logic (2002), won the
National Poetry Series , was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and runner-up for the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets.
[7] He won the National Book Award for Lighthead
[1] (in which he invented the "
golden shovel " poetic form).
[8]
Hayes's poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including
The New Yorker ,
The American Poetry Review ,
Ploughshares ,
Fence ,
The Kenyon Review , Jubilat ,
Harvard Review ,
West Branch ,
Poetry , and
The Adroit Journal .
[9]
In praising Hayes's work,
Cornelius Eady has said: "First you'll marvel at his skill, his near-perfect pitch, his disarming humor, his brilliant turns of phrase. Then you'll notice the grace, the tenderness, the unblinking truth-telling just beneath his lines, the open and generous way he takes in our world."
[7]
In September 2014, he was honored as one of the 21 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
[10]
In January 2017, Hayes was elected a Chancellor of the
Academy of American Poets .
[7]
In 2018, Hayes premiered Cycles of My Being commissioned by
Opera Philadelphia ,
Lyric Opera of Chicago , and
Carnegie Hall with music by
Tyshawn Sorey starring
Lawrence Brownlee . This song cycles center on what it means to be a Black man living in America today. In 2020, the song cycle was made into a film by
Opera Philadelphia and released on their digital channel. The poetry was from Hayes' book
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin .
[11]
In 2023, Hayes, alongside Nancy Krygowski and
Jeffrey McDaniel , was named editor of the
Pitt Poetry Series .
[12]
Awards
Bibliography
Poetry
Collections
List of poems
Title
Year
First published
Reprinted/collected
Ars poetica with bacon
2016
Hayes, Terrance (July 11–18, 2016). "Ars poetica with bacon". The New Yorker . Vol. 92, no. 21. pp. 78–79.
American Sonnet for the New Year
2019
Hayes, Terrance (January 14, 2019).
"American Sonnet for the New Year" . The New Yorker . Vol. 94, no. 44. p. 45.
Nonfiction
— (2018). To Float in the Space Between: A Life and Work in Conversation with the Life and Work of Etheridge Knight . Wave Books.
ISBN
978-1-940696-61-4 .
References
^
a
b
c
d
"National Book Awards – 2010" .
National Book Foundation .
Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2012 . (With acceptance speech, reading, interview, and other materials.)
^ Fuoco, Michael A. (September 17, 2014).
"Pittsburgh poet Terrance Hayes named MacArthur Fellow" . Post Gazette.
Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2014 .
^
"Terrance Hayes" . Poetry Foundation . 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2019-01-08 .
^ Norman, Tony (August 25, 2013).
"Briefing Books: Lauded poet Terrance Hayes heads to Pitt" . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .
Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2013 .
^
"Terrance Hayes" . as.nyu.edu . Retrieved 2020-01-23 .
^
a
b
"From the Fishouse > Terrance Hayes Bio" . fishousepoems.org. January 19, 2008. Archived from
the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2015 .
^
a
b
c
d
Academy of American Poets > Terrance Hayes Biography , poets.org,
archived from the original on March 15, 2015, retrieved March 21, 2015
^
The End of the Line: Terrance Hayes and Formal Innovation , by
Dora Malech , in
The Kenyon Review ; published December 22, 2016; retrieved February 15, 2020
^
a
b
"John Simom Guggenheim Memorial Foundation >2009 Fellow in Creative Arts - Poetry > Terrance Hayes Bio" . gf.org.
Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2015 .
^ Felicia, Lee R. (September 17, 2014).
"MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows" . NY Times.
Archived from the original on November 21, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2014 .
^ Chiasson, Dan (25 June 2018).
"The Politics and Play of Terrance Hayes" . The New Yorker . Retrieved 2021-05-13 .
^
"Three writers, including Terrance Hayes, will serve as Pitt Poetry Series editors" . University of Pittsburgh Times . Retrieved June 6, 2023 .
^ Treadwell, Jane (5 May 2023).
"Poet Terrance Hayes honored at Troy University" . The Messenger . Retrieved May 25, 2023 .
^
"United States Artists Official Website – Terrance Hayes" . usafellows.org. Archived from
the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2015 .
^
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190327652/poet-terrance-hayes-holds-a-mirror-to-history-headlines-and-himself-in-so-to-spe
External links
Official website
Essays, poems, video of Terrance Hayes at Poets.org
Profile and poems of Terrance Hayes, including audio files , at the Poetry Foundation.
Video: Online NewsHour: Report > Pittsburgh Poet Terrance Hayes > April 24, 2008
Interview: The Missouri Review > Issue 29.4, Winter 2006 > A Conversation with Terrance Hayes by Jason Koo
"My Aesthetic Schizophrenia: An Interview with Terrence Hayes", Jonathan Moody, nidus , Winter 2005 at the
Wayback Machine (archived December 9, 2008)
Audio: Terrance Hayes Reading for From the Fishouse at the
Wayback Machine (archived April 11, 2012)
Library of Congress Online Catalog > Terrance Hayes
pabook.libraries > Terrance Hayes
Profile at The Whiting Foundation
International National Other