u003cbu003eWinner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetryu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003eWinner of the 2017 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetryu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003eWinner of the 2017 Book Award from the Society of Midland Authors for Poetryu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003e2016 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for poetryu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003e2017 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award finalistu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003e2017 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award finalistu003c/bu003e u003cpu003eu003cbu003eNamed a top poetry book of spring 2016 by u003ciu003eLibrary Journalu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003e u003cpu003ePart fact, part fiction, Tyehimba Jess's much anticipated second book weaves sonnet, song, and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers directly before and after the Civil War up to World War I. u003ciu003eOlio u003c/iu003eis an effort to understand how they met, resisted, complicated, co-opted, and sometimes defeated attempts to minstrelize them. u003cpu003eu003ciu003eSo, while I lead this choir, I still find thatu003cbru003eI'm being led...I'm a missionaryu003cbru003emending my faith in the midst of this flock...u003cbru003eI toil in their fields of praise. When folks seeu003cbru003ethese freedmen stand and sing, they hear their Godu003cbru003espeak in tongues. These nine dark mouths sing shelter;u003cbru003ethey echo a hymn's haven from slavery's weather.u003c/iu003e u003cpu003eDetroit native u003cbu003eTyehimba Jessu003c/bu003e' first book of poetry, u003ciu003eleadbellyu003c/iu003e, was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. Jess, a Cave Canem and NYU Alumni, has received fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Jess is also a veteran of the 2000 and 2001 Green Mill Poetry Slam Team. He exhibited his poetry at the 2011 TEDxNashville Conference. Jess is an Associate Professor of English at College of Staten Island.u003c/pu003eu003cbru003e