Mitchell L.H. Douglas
Photo courtesy of Mitchell L. H. Douglas
Bio
Mitchell L. H. Douglas is the author of the poetry collections dying in the scarecrow’s arms; \blak\ \al-fə bet\, winner of the Persea Books Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award; and Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem, an NAACP Image Award and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee. His poetry has appeared in Callaloo, Quarterly West, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, among others. He is a cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem alum, and associate professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI).
Poetry is a place where life’s everyday rules do not apply, the intersection of the uncompromising and the impossible that has held my imagination for decades. One of my greatest fears as an artist is repeating myself. This is a crucial stage in my career where I am not only striving for further development of my poetic voice but the creation of a new poetics. The National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship is the vehicle to my tenor: an opportunity to complete the most ambitious transformation of my writing life. I will never forget that the NEA contributed to my growth as an artist in such a generous way. For that, I am grateful.