Former Library Poetry Contest Winner Receives MacArthur Genius Grant

Jericho Brown was an undergrad student at Dillard University when he won second place in the New Orleans Public Library’s first city-wide poetry contest in the mid-1990s. In 2020, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 2019 collection, “The Tradition.” Last week (Oct. 2), Brown added another prestigious accolade to his resume when he was selected as 2024 MacArthur Fellow.

Known as a “genius grant,” the award includes $800,000 to be distributed over five years and is given annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The MacArthur Foundation commended Brown’s “frankness and vulnerability about love.”

“In poems with astonishing lyrical beauty, Brown illuminates the experiences of marginalized people and shows the relevance and value of formal experimentation,” the foundation wrote.

Brown’s list of achievements is a long one. Each of his three books have been recognized for prestigious awards including the American Book Award, the Whiting Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

One of his earliest awards was a lesser-known achievement, but one that Brown still looks back on fondly.

“When the New Orleans Public Library announced their first ever poetry contest, I submitted a poem, and I didn’t win,” Brown told the Library in 2020.

“I came in second place, which I think is important, because at the time, I understood I was a poet, and I understood I had some talent. But, coming in second place let me know that I had more work to do, while also being a sign that I did indeed have the talent and the craft necessary to do that work.”

The first-place winner was Michael Jones, one of Brown’s close friends and a classmate at Dillard University, a historically Black college.

“So that year, that first year of the New Orleans Public Library contest, it was a really big deal for Dillard University, not just a big deal for him or me individually,” Brown said.

In addition to motivating him to hone his craft, Brown said the recognition from the Library was important for another reason.

“I love libraries. I consider myself the Poet Ambassador to all Libraries. Or maybe, the Poet Ambassador from all Libraries, because I really do consider that where I got my start as a writer and poet,” he said. “Libraries were very important to me as a kid. They were the places where I first began to most intently read and understand poetry, even when I was very young, through poets like Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovani.”

Growing up in Shreveport, Brown’s mother would often take him and his sister to their local library, which is where he first discovered his future career.

“As an elementary school kid, I found poetry very appealing because it was much less intimidating than prose,” Brown said.

“It got to a point where the librarians realized how in love with poetry I was. There was this one librarian there — I’ll never forget her name, Laura McKenney — she would have books of poetry waiting for me. That’s the kind of thing that libraries do, and that librarians do. Librarians are angels on Earth, and I really appreciate their presence on this planet.”

In addition to helping him discover his passion, Brown said Libraries continued to play an important role in his life. While he spent more time at his childhood library in Shreveport than at the New Orleans Public Library, he said it still carries a special place in his heart — particularly the Noman Mayer Library on Gentilly Boulevard.

“That’s where I voted for the first time ever, which was a hugely important experience for me,” Brown said. “So, it was really an honor to be recognized by the New Orleans Library at that time in my life, because libraries as an institution have always meant so much to me.”

After graduating from Dillard University in 1998, Brown worked for Marc Morial’s office as a speechwriter. He later earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans and then his doctorate from the University of Houston.

Today, Brown lives in Atlanta and is an associate professor and the director of the creative writing program at Emory University. After he won the Pulitzer in 2020, Brown told The Louisiana Weekly his time in New Orleans instilled in him “a sense of tradition and of intimacy with the past,” which has helped shape him into the educator and writer he is today.

The New Orleans Public Library continues to host writing contests, and Brown said he encourages anyone to participate, even if they don’t think they’ll win.

“I’m grateful for all kinds of recognition, but it’s important to understand that the prize — whether it’s the New Orleans Public Library Prize or the Pulitzer Prize — the prize is the recognition, but it is not the achievement. The achievement is the writing itself, and nothing beats a failure but a try,” Brown said.