José Olivarez is an author, poet and educator from

Calumet City, Illinois Calumet City ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 36,033 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History Calumet City (commonly referred to locally as "Cal City") was founded in 1893 ...

, U.S. His first full collection of poetry is ''Citizen Illegal'', published by

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

. ''Citizen Illegal'' was shortlisted for the 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. His second poetry collection '' Promises of Gold'', with a Spanish translation by David Ruano, was published by

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

Education and early life

Jose Olivarez is the son of Mexican

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

, and he graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Career and writing

Olivarez's work has been featured in the New York Times, the Paris Review, and Poetry Magazine, among others. In 2014, he co-authored the collection ''Home Court.'' Haymarket Books published his first full collection, ''Citizen Illegal,'' in 2018. ''Citizen Illegal'' was shortlisted for the $75,000 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. MacMillan Publishers released his second collection, ''Promises of Gold,'' in 2023. He is co-editor, along with Willie Perdomo and Felicia Chavez, of the anthology ''The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext.'' He has received fellowships from several organizations, including a 2016 Poets House Emerging Poets Fellowship and a 2019 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

. Olivarez worked for the writing and education organizations Urban Word in New York and Young Chicago Authors, which produces the youth poetry festival, ''Louder than a Bomb''. Olivarez co-hosts the podcast ''The Poetry Gods''.

Works

* '' Promises of Gold'', Macmillan Publishers, 2023 ISBN 9781250878496 * ''Citizen Illegal'', Haymarket Books, 2018 *''The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4:'' ''LatiNext,'' Haymarket Books, 2020

References

External links

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José Olivarez
Poets from Illinois Writers from Chicago Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard University alumni American poets of Mexican descent American male poets 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers People from Calumet City, Illinois {{US-poet-stub