E. Ethelbert Miller
E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. He is the author of several collections of poetry and two memoirs. Mr. Miller serves as a board member for The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. For 14 years he has been the editor of Poet Lore, the oldest poetry magazine published in the United States. In 1996, Emory and Henry College awarded Miller an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. He has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Fellow to Israel in 2004 and 2012. Mr. Miller has taught at several universities and currently serves on the faculty at the University of Houston/Victoria. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Chinese, Farsi, Norwegian, Tamil and Arabic.
Mr. Miller is often heard on National Public Radio. He is host of the weekly morning radio show On the Margin which airs on WPFW-FM 89.3. Mr. Miller is host and producer of The Scholars on UDC-TV, and his E-Notes has been a popular blog since 2004. On April 19, 2015, Mr. Miller was inducted into the Washington, DC, Hall of Fame. In 2016, he received the AWP George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature and the DC Mayor's Arts Award for Distinguished Honor. His latest book of poetry, The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller, edited by Kirsten Porter and published in 2016 by Willow Books, is a comprehensive collection that represents over 40 years of his career as a poet.
Photo © John B. Parks
Books by E. Ethelbert Miller
The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller
How We Sleep on the Nights We Don't Make Love
Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer
Whispers, Secrets and Promises
In Search of Color Everywhere
The 5th Inning
First Light: New and Selected Poems
Charles Johnson: Embracing the World
If God Invented Baseball: Poems
Book Reviews by E. Ethelbert Miller
Doug Wilson
African American, Baseball, Sports
Let's Play Two: The Life and Times of Ernie Banks
Let's write two or more. This year there are a number of books about the great Chicago baseball player Ernie Banks that made it into the publisher's lineup.
Sports, Sports History
My Dad, Yogi: A Memoir of Family and Baseball
"You all right, kid?" This is the question directed by Yogi Berra throughout his life to his son Dale.
Personal Memoir, Sports, Baseball
Play Hungry: The Making of a Baseball Player
It's always best to write your memoir before someone writes your biography. Play Hungry joins a lineup of several books about Pete Rose.
Yuval Taylor
Biography, Autobiography & Memoir, Authors
Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal
"Yuval Taylor's love telling tale is intriguing, funny, and filled with much speculation. It's a book that might be ready for the big screen.
Ross Gay
Biography, Autobiography & Memoir, Literary Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography & Memoir, African American, Political & Social Science
The Book of Delights: Essays
There is something about the word delights that quickly brings to mind such things as sweetness, laughter, and endless flirtation. Ross Gay's small book seems designed for the backpack.
Gary Phillips
Graphic, Nonfiction, Comics, & Cartoons, 20th Century, Civil Rights
The Be-Bop Barbarians: Comic Book Bohemians to a 1950s Jazz Beat
"this graphic novel is for readers who know how to snap their fingers while turning the page."
Biography, Autobiography & Memoir, African American, Authors, Biography, Autobiography & Memoir
Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974–1989 (Sapphic Classics)
"a book that speaks loudly to black lesbians and to anyone who dares to love fiercely."
Kiese Laymon
Personal Memoir, African American
Heavy: An American Memoir
Back in 2013 Michelle Obama took her anti-childhood obesity campaign to Mississippi. She spoke at an elementary school not far from Jackson.
Essays, Writing & Journalism
Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir
"a gift that feeds those who wish to sing and long to write."
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Christoph Keller, Jan Heller Levi
LGBTQ, African American, Poetry, Women's Fiction
We're On: A June Jordan Reader
What should "A Reader" attempt to do? One looks for it to provide an overview of an author's work. The reader is a book that should be suitable for the classroom and instruction.
Biography, Autobiography & Memoir, Political, Executive Branch, Politics
Understanding Trump
"Understanding Trump is one of those books that can be quickly pasted together and sold in an airport bookstore. . . .
Amit Majmudar
Literary Fiction, Anthologies
Resistance, Rebellion, Life: 50 Poems Now
Somewhere after every NFL Super Bowl one will find many die-hard fans weeping for the team that lost, so it is with presidential elections.
Marita Golden
Literary Fiction, African American, Literary
The Wide Circumference of Love: A Novel
"a love story that is also a survival story of beauty and hope."
John Edgar Wideman
African American, History, Civil Rights, Current/Public Affairs & Events, Civil Rights, History, U.S., 20th Century
Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File
This is not one Till tale but three. When young Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, his death changed the Civil Rights Movement and American history.
Literary Fiction, African American, Literary, Short Stories, Single Authors
Chicago Heat and Other Stories
One could compare the artistic career of Clarence Major to that of musical genius Miles Davis. Major has always been miles ahead of other African American writers.
Jason Overstreet
African American, Historical, Mystery
The Strivers' Row Spy
The 1920s is one of those decades everyone seems to look back at with fascination and nostalgia.
Poetry, Single Author
Mortal Trash: Poems
For many years W. W. Norton employed one of the best poetry editors in the country. Carol Houck Smith who died in 2008 worked at Norton for sixty years.