Major Jackson reads “My Children’s Inheritance”

“Major Jackson has the talent to free himself to become whatever kind of poet he wants,” writes George Held, of the Philadelphia Inquirer. His poetry is grounded in the sights, sounds, and communities of Philadelphia, and yet it expands beyond simple documentation to capture a raw and miraculous humanity.

Jackson is the author of three collections of poetry: HOLDING COMPANY (W.W. Norton, 2010) and HOOPS (W.W. Norton, 2006), both finalists for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature-Poetry and LEAVING SATURN (University of Georgia, 2002), winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and finalist for a National Book Critics Award Circle. He currently serves as the poetry editor of the Harvard Review.

Jackson was Cave Canem faculty in the Spring of 2017, and read at City of Asylum as part of the annual celebration of black poetry.