Sjohnna McCray
Sjohnna McCray | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 7, 1972 |
| Died | June 21, 2023 (aged 51)[1] |
| Occupation | Poet, teacher |
| Alma mater | Ohio University University of Virginia Teachers College, Columbia University |
| Notable works | Rapture |
| Notable awards | Walt Whitman Award (2015) |
| Website | |
| Sjohnna McCray's website | |
Sjohnna McCray (March 7, 1972 – June 21, 2023)[2] was an American poet. He was the author of Rapture, winner of the Walt Whitman award of the Academy of American Poets in 2015.
Biography[edit]
Sjohnna McCray was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 7, 1972. He earned a BS from Ohio University in 1995, and later obtained a MFA in Poetry from the University of Virginia.[3]
McCray published his first poetry collection, Rapture (Graywolf Press) in 2016. The collection was chosen by United States Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith, as the winner of the 2015 Walt Whitman Award. Smith wrote of the collection: "These poems are so beautifully crafted, so courageous in their truth-telling, and so full of what I like to think of as lyrical wisdom—the visceral revelations that only music, gesture and image, working together, can impart—that not only did they stop me in my tracks as a judge, but they changed me as a person."[4]
McCray was the recipient of Ohio University's Emerson Poetry Prize and was nominated for a Pushcart Poetry Prize.[5][6] He later studied at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he received an MA in English Education.[4]
McCray taught school in New York City, Chicago and Phoenix. He lived in Savannah, Georgia, where he taught English at Savannah State University.[3][4]
Awards[edit]
- Walt Whitman award, Rapture, (2015)
- Nominee Pushcart Prize
- Winner Ohio University's Emerson Poetry Prize
References[edit]
- ^ Graywolf Press [@graywolfpress] (June 21, 2023). "All of us at Graywolf are greatly saddened at the death of poet Sjohnna McCray. His remarkable first collection RAPTURE was selected by Tracy K. Smith as the winner of the First Book Award of the Academy of American Poets. As his title suggests, he and his poems are ravishing, and he will be missed". Retrieved June 21, 2023 – via Instagram.
- ^ "Award-winning Poet Sjohnna McCray Has Died". Lambda Literary Review. July 13, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
- ^ a b "Sjohnna McCray". Cincinnati Magazine. August 2001. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Sjohnna McCray". Poets.org. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ "Local poet wins major literary award that includes a residency in Italy". Savannah Now. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ "Sjohnna McCray b. 1972". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 19, 2018.