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Tongo Eisen-Martin is an American poet and activist. He is the current poet laureate of
Tongo Eisen-Martin is an American poet and activist. He is the current poet laureate of San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
Biography
Tongo Eisen-Martin was born in 1980 in San Francisco, California to a revolutionary mother Arlene Eisen. His parents named him afterJosiah Tongogara
Josiah Magama Tongogara (4 February 1938 – 26 December 1979) was a commander of the ZANLA guerrilla army in Rhodesia. He was the brother of current Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa's second wife, Jayne. He attended the Lancaster House co ...
. Muralist Miranda Bergman
Miranda Bergman is a contemporary muralist and one of the seven women artists who in 1994 created the '' MaestraPeace'' mural, the largest mural in San Francisco, which covers The Women's Building.
Work
She grew up in the San Francisco Mission ...
is his godmother. He has a younger brother named Biko, and they both attended Meadows-Livingstone school in San Francisco as children. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree in African-American Studies, all from Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
where he taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, creating the 2012 curriculum ''We Charge Genocide Again!'' He has also taught at detention centers, including San Quentin and Rikers Island. He is the co-founder of Black Freighter Press.
Honors and awards
Eisen-Martin's 2017 book ''Heaven Is All Goodbyes'' published by City Lights won a PEN Oakland Award, the 2018 American Book Award, 2018 California Book Award, and 2018 National California Booksellers Association Poetry Book of the Year. His 2020 title ''Blood on the Fog'' published by City Lights was named a Best Poetry Book of 2021 by Elisa Gabbert of the ''New York Times.''Works
*''Someone's Dead Already.'' Bootstrap Press. 2015. *''Heaven is All Goodbyes.'' City Lights. 2017. *''Waiting Behind Tornados for Food.'' Materials. 2020. *''Blood on the Fog: Pocket Poets Series No. 62 Tongo Eisen-Martin.'' City Lights. 2021.References