Upon the publication of his first book of poetry,
Poems from Prison(1968), Etheridge Knight was championed as a vital and authentic new voice of the Black Arts Movement while still incarcerated in the Indiana State Penitentiary. From this unique beginning, Knight went on to receive a National Endowment of the Arts grant and Guggenheim Fellowship, and his follow-up collection,
Belly Song and Other Poems(1973), was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Given his themes and experience with mass incarceration, addiction, and black masculinity, Etheridge Knight remains one of the most influential and yet lesser-known American poets.
Knight, the third of seven children, was born on 19 April 1931 in Corinth, Mississippi to Etheridge Knight Sr. and Belzora Cozart Knight.
2058 words
Citation: Perdieu, Zachary. "Etheridge Knight". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 February 2021 [https://www.literaryencyclopedia.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14669, accessed 04 October 2024.]