Tyehimba Jess is an award-winning poet and author whose works explore the beauty, complexity, and resilience of the African American experience.
His acclaimed collection of poetry, Olio, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and he has been recognized for his literary contributions with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
In our interview, Jess shares his thoughts on poetry, storytelling, and the importance of understanding our shared history and culture.
His words offer a unique insight into the power of language, and how it can be used to bring about meaningful change. Tyehimba Jess is an inspirational voice for our time, and we are honored to have him as a guest on our show.
Tyehimba Jess grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was inspired by the rich heritage of culture and language that brought people together in the city.
The city’s culture was vibrant, diverse, and connected people of all walks of life, and Jess was drawn to the poetry of the language and the rhythms of speech.
Poetry, as he describes it, is “sound in motion.” Jess says he was drawn to it because, “Poetry is the way that language becomes taste, texture, sound, color. What the poet does is to take the sensory information that is available to us all the time, and elevate it to the level of art.”
Tyehimba Jess says that “knowing our history, and knowing our culture” is important for all of us as individuals as well as for our communities.
He explains that “we are all connected” as people of color, and that we share a common history and heritage.
Telling stories, and reclaiming our history and culture, can help us to understand ourselves and our neighbors better. “I think that the more we know about each other, the more compassionate we’ll be.
And that’s what the world needs now is more compassion,” he says. Jess believes that celebrating our diverse heritage can help us to understand the commonalities in our stories and cultures, and in so doing, find a greater sense of belonging and connection with one another.
Tyehimba Jess sees his work as poetry, storytelling, and scholarship as all being connected. He describes scholarship as “looking at something and turning it over, and examining it from all sides. And not only examining it, but examining it in relation to other things,” he says.
“So, when I’m researching and writing about the history of the African American experience, I’m also thinking about the larger themes of American culture, the history of race, and the way that race has operated in our society and our history,” he adds.
Jess sees his work as contributing to change in a number of ways. He says that “scholarship helps to create a body of knowledge that can be used to understand the present,” and that he often uses his research in his poetry and storytelling as well.
Tyehimba Jess says that “words are the things that make us human, that make us civilized.” He explains that language is important because it “allows us to think about the world, and to reflect on the world, and to imagine things that we haven’t yet seen.”
Language has the power to create new worlds and new possibilities, as well as to bring meaning to our lives. It can connect us to other people and to our shared history and culture.
It can also be a source of healing, helping us to process our experiences and overcome challenges in life. “Words matter,” Jess says. “They can help us heal, they can help us understand each other better, they can help us respond to the world in a way that is creative and meaningful.”
Tyehimba Jess says that winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was both “surprising” and “overwhelming.”
He was surprised because he “didn’t really expect” to win, and it was an “overwhelming honor because it came at a time when the country was in a very difficult place.”
He says he was “happy to have a moment of celebration and joy amidst all of the chaos that we were living in.”
When asked what advice he would give to others who might be experiencing the same difficulties, he says that it’s important to “stay connected to the things that are important to you.”
He advises that “if you are connected to something, if you are passionate about something, if there is something that is meaningful to you, then do it. Do it while you can. Do it while you have the energy.”
Tyehimba Jess says that he continues to be inspired and challenged by his work every day. As he is always “thinking about the things that are important to me, and that are meaningful to me,” he says he is always inspired.
“And I’m also, at the same time, always conscious of the fact that I don’t know enough. That there are things that are important to me that I don’t know enough about.”
He says he is constantly challenging himself to learn more, to be open to new ideas and experiences, and to be engaged with the world around him.
“I want to understand the world that I live in,” he says. “I want to understand myself better, and I want to be able to create things that are meaningful because of that understanding.”
Tyehimba Jess hopes that he will continue to make an impact with his work by “continu[ing] to be open to learning, and to be open to change.”
He desires to be “engaged with the world around [him] in a way that allows [him] to continue to create art that is meaningful.”
He hopes to continue to use the power of language to create new worlds and new possibilities, and to help us to heal and find a greater sense of belonging and connection with one another.
As he says, “I hope that my work is meaningful to people, and I hope that it is helpful to people, and I hope that it gives people a sense of connection to each other and a sense of being in the world.”
Tyehimba Jess is an award-winning poet and author whose works explore the beauty, complexity, and resilience of the African American experience.
His acclaimed collection of poetry, Olio, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and he has been recognized for his literary contributions with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. In our interview, Jess shares his thoughts on poetry, storytelling, and the importance of understanding our shared history and culture.
His words offer a unique insight into the power of language, and how it can be used to bring about meaningful change.
Jess’s work celebrates the diversity and beauty of African American culture, and uses language as a tool to heal and build connections with others.
His work inspires us to examine our shared history and to celebrate our commonalities, and to use the power of language to create new realities and possibilities.
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