# Douglas Kearney

Douglas Kearney (born 1974) is an American poet, performer and librettist. Kearney grew up in Altadena, California. His work has appeared in Nocturnes, Jubilat, Beloit Poetry Journal, Gulf Coast, Poetry, Pleiades, Iowa Review, Callaloo, Boston Review, Hyperallergic, Scapegoat, Obsidian, Boundary 2, Jacket2, Lana Turner, Brooklyn Rail, and Indiana Review. In 2012, his and Anne LeBaron's opera, Crescent City, premiered and received widespread praise. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota.

## Education

Kearney attended Howard University as an undergraduate. He graduated from California Institute of the Arts, with an MFA (2004).

## Awards and honors

Kearney has received multiple notable fellowships, including the Cave Canem Fellowship (2000-02), Bread Loaf Writer's Conference Fellowship (2004), Callaloo Creative Writer's Workshop Fellowship (2004-05), and Returning Fellowship at the Idyllwild Summer Arts Poetry Workshop (2007).
In 2007, the Poetry Society of America named Kearney a Notable New American Poet. The following year, he was part of the National Poetry Series.
Awards for Kearney's writing :
| Year | Title | Award | Result |
| 2006 | Swimchant for Nigger Mer-folk | Coat Hanger Award | Winner |
| 2008 | Self | Whiting Award | Winner |
| 2014 | Patter | California Book Awards Poetry Finalist | Winner |
| 2017 | Buck Studies | California Book Award for Poetry | Silver |
| 2017 | Buck Studies | CLMP Firecracker Award for Poetry | Winner |
| 2017 | Buck Studies | Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize | Winner |
| 2021 | - | Campbell Opera Librettist Prize | Winner |
| 2021 | Sho | National Book Award for Poetry | Finalist |
| 2022 | Sho | Griffin Poetry Prize (International) | Winner |
| 2022 | Sho | Hurston/Wright Legacy Award | Nominee |
| 2023 | Optic Subwoof | CLMP Firecracker Award for Creative Nonfiction | Winner |
| 2023 | Optic Subwoof | Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism | Winner |

## Works

* FEAR, SOME. Red Hen Press. 2006. ISBN 978-1-59709-071-1.
* The Black Automaton. Fence Books. 2009. ISBN 978-1-934200-28-5.
* PATTER. Red Hen Press. 2014. ISBN 978-1-59709-580-8.
* Mess and Mess and. Noemi Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1-93481-951-7.
* Someone Took They Tongues. Subito Press. 2016. ISBN 978-0-9906612-5-2.
* Buck Studies. Fence Books. 2016. ISBN 978-0-98643-737-3.
* Sho. Wave Books. April 2021. ISBN 9781950268153.
* Optic Subwoof. Wave Books. November 2022. ISBN 9781950268672.

### Anthologies

* Tony Medina; Louis Reyes Rivera, eds. (2001). Bum Rush the Page: a Def Poetry Jam. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-609-80840-5.
* Samiya Bashir; Tony Medina; Quarishi Ali Lansana, eds. (2002). Role Call: a generational anthology of social and political Black art & literature. Third World Press. ISBN 978-0-88378-238-5.
* Sheree R. Thomas, ed. (2005). Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. Aspect. ISBN 978-0446693776
* Nikky Finney, ed. (2007). "Big Thicket: Pastoral". The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-2926-0.
* Mark Eleveld, ed. (2007) Spoken Word Revolution Redux. Sourcebooks MediaFusion. ISBN 978-1402208690
* Sherman Alexie, David Lehman, eds (2015) Best American Poetry 2015 Scribner Press. ISBN 978-1476708201
* Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0820353159.