Author Phillip Williams on Campus Oct. 17 to Read from Works for Black Poetry Day

This year’s annual SUNY Plattsburgh Black Poetry Day guest is award-winning poet and novelist, Phillip Williams, who will read from his works Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall.

Williams, winner of the American Book Award and Lambda Literary Award for his collection of poems, “Mutiny.” He is also the author of the chapter books “Bruised Gospels” and “Burn.” His debut novel, “Ours,” a New York Times Notable Book of 2024, is about “the spiritual costs of a freedom that demands fierce protection,” according to the literary speakers agency Blue Flower Arts. “Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology and spirituality, “Ours” is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom.”

Williams’ work has appeared or is forthcoming in Boston Review, Callaloo, Kenyon Review, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and others. He is the recipient of a 2020 creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a 2017 Whiting Award, and a 2013 Ruth Lilly Fellowship. The Chicago native teaches literature at Bennington College and is a member of the founding faculty for the Randolph College low-residency MFA program in creative writing.

Black Poetry Day and Williams’ reading is sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Office of the President, and the Redcay Honors Program, and is made possible by gifts to the Plattsburgh College Foundation. Williams’ books will be available for purchase at the event, which is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Dr. Tracie Guzzio, director of the Honors Program, at [email protected].

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs