A. Van Jordan

Born in Akron, Ohio, A. Van Jordan is a graduate of Wittenberg University (B.A.), Howard University (M.A.), Warren Wilson College (M.F.A.), and Vermont College of Fine Arts (M.F.A.). He serves as a professor of English at Stanford University. He previously was the Robert Hayden Collegiate Professor of English Language & Literature at the University of Michigan.

"Poetry is the art form right now that you’re seeing more experimentation, you’re seeing more—and I don’t mean experimental poetry. I mean people are taking risks on the page and doing things and trying to express themselves through various modalities…It’s kind of showing, oh, this is what an artist can do if they are allowed to express themselves without worrying about a producer or a donor of some kind. I think one of the blessings and curses of poetry is that it doesn’t make a lot of money. But, as a result, you don’t feel beholden to someone who has money to make it. As a result, I think it allows for more nimbleness inside the writing and the concepts."

— Excerpt from Oral Memoirs of A. Van Jordan,
Baylor University Institute for Oral History

Jordan is the author of five books of poetry, including the forthcoming collection When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again (2023). His other books are The Cineaste (2013); Quantum Lyrics (2007); M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A (2005), which was listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by the London Times; and Rise (2001),which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award.

Among his other honors, Jordan has received the Whiting Writers Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He is also a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and United States Artists.