“Citizen听throws a Molotov cocktail at the notion that reduction of injustice is the same as freedom.”
芒鈧赌�The New York Times Book Review
Claudia Rankine’s听Citizen听uses a poetic frame to uncover an insidious racism embedded in the everyday, from Main Street USA to the lecture halls of the Ivory Tower. An offhand comment or a helpful call from a neighbor can carry ominous weight, as Rankine’s observations move from bewilderment to disappointment to quiet ire.听Citizen听is a true revelation鈥攊t leaves its readers unsettled, moved, and changed with every page.
Rankine听is the author of five collections of poetry including听Citizen: An American Lyricand听Don’t Let Me Be Lonely;听two plays including听Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue;听numerous video collaborations, and is the editor of several anthologies including听The Racial Inquiry: Writers in the Life of the Mind.听For her book听Citizen, Rankine won both the PEN Open Book Award and the PEN Literary Award, the NAACP Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry; and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Citizen also holds the distinction of being the only poetry book to be a听New York Times听bestseller in the nonfiction category. Among her nuemous awards and honors, Rankine is the recipient of the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and the National Ednowmen of the Arts. She lives in California and is the Aerol Arnold Chair in the University of Southern California English Department.
This program is presented in partnership with the 61传媒 Humanities Institute and the Alexa Fullterton Hampton ’42 Endowed Speaker Fund.
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