Mahogany L. Browne, (born Lesley Tims, 1976) is an American poet curator, writer, organizer and educator. As of July 2021, Browne is the first-ever poet-in-residence at New York City's

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Biography

Mahogany L. Browne was born and raised in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

before moving to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York in 1999. She recalls never having imagined moving to New York permanently as someone born and raised in Oakland, California but after her summer residency at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

ended, she decided to stay. She is known for her thirteen-year tenure as the Friday Night Slam curator and Poetry Program director at the

Nuyorican Poets Café The Nuyorican (Puerto Rican New Yorkers) Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. In 2019, Browne served as the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

(BLM) program coordinator at her ''alma mater'',

, where she was also a visiting instructor. Browne is currently the executive director at Bowery Poetry Club, founded by Bob Holman in 2003. Browne is also the artistic director at Urban Word NYC, Poetry Coordinator at

St. Francis College , mottoeng = My God, My All , established = , type = Private college , chancellor = , president = Miguel Martinez-Saenz , provost = Jennifer Lancas ...

and the author of several books (including children's books), stage plays, articles and audio recordings. The founder of Penmanship Books, Browne has received numerous awards and fellowships, among which is a fellowship from the Arts for Justice Fund (AJF). The

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

has published several blog essays of Browne's through their partnership with AJF.

Awards

In 2019, Browne received a SWACC! Focus Fellowship, which is awarded to a spoken word author whose lifelong creative work has demonstrated a commitment to building community through collaborative models. She was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry. She was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry.

Publications

Young Adult

* ''Chlorine Sky'', Crown/Penguin Random, 2020 * ''Vinyl Moon'', Crown/Penguin Random, 2021

Poetry collections

*''Kissing Caskets'', Yes Yes Books, 2017 *''Unlikely & Other Sorts'', Penmanship Books, 2006 *''Destroy, Rebuild & Other Reconstructions of the Human Muscle'', Penmanship Books, 2009 *''#Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out Online in 140 Characters or Less'', Penmanship Books, 2010 *''Swag'', Penmanship Books, 2010 *''smudge'',

Button Poetry Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation ca ...

, 2015 *''REDBone'', Willow Books, 2015 * ''Black Girl Magic: A Poem'',

Roaring Brook Press A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cat ...

, 2018 * ''Woke Baby'', Roaring Brook Press, 2018 *''Chrome Valley,'' National Geographic Books, 2023

Essays

* "Dismantling Rage: On Audre Lorde’s ''Sister Outsider''"

Poems

* "Ego-Tripp(ed)," The Academy of American Poets, 2015 *"Litany," The Academy of American Poets, 2019 * "Inevitable," The Academy of American Poets, 2019 * "On St. John’s and Franklin Avenue," The Academy of American Poets, 2019 * "The 19th Amendment & My Mama", March 21 2020

Anthologies

* Editor, ''His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by Her'', Penmanship Books, 2007 *Editor and contributor, ''The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic'', Haymarket Books, 2018 *Contributor, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Glory Edim, Penguin Random House, 2018 *Lead author (with

Elizabeth Acevedo Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American poet and author. In September 2022, the Poetry Foundation named her the year's Young People’s Poet Laureate. Acevedo is the author of the young adult novels ''The Poet X'', '' With the Fire on High'', ...

and

Olivia Gatwood Olivia Gatwood (born February 23, 1992) is a poet, writer, and educator on topics that include coming of age, feminism, gendered violence, & true crime. Early life and education Olivia Gatwood was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 23 ...

), ''Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice'', Roaring Brook Press, 2020 *Contributor, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, Penguin Random House, 2020 *Contributor, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song by Kevin Young, Penguin Random House, 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Mahogany L. 1976 births Living people American women poets Pratt Institute alumni 21st-century American poets Poets from California African-American poets American women children's writers American children's writers African-American children's writers American women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Brooklyn African-American dramatists and playwrights Poets from New York (state) 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women