SELECTED POEMSOF CALVIN

C. HERNTON

CALVIN C. HERNTON, EDITED BY DAVID GRUNDY & LAURI SCHEYER, FOREWORD BY ISHMAEL REED

Wesleyan Poetry Series

The definitive guide to a major African American poet

This volume promises to be the definitive guide to Calvin C Hernton's unparalleled poetic career, re-introducing readers to a major voice in American poetry Hernton was a cofounder of the Umbra Poets Workshop; a participant in the Black Arts Movement, R D Laing's Kingsley Hall, and the Antiuniversity of London; and a teacher at Oberlin College who counted amongst his friends bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and Odetta As a pioneer in the field of Black Studies, Hernton developed a theoretical and practical pedagogy with lasting impact on generations of students He may be best known as an antisexist sociologist, following in the footsteps of W E B Du Bois, but Hernton viewed himself, above all, as a poet. This volume includes a generous selection of Hernton's previously published poems, from classics like the often anthologized "The Distant Drum" to the visionary epic The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong, reprinted in full for the first time since 1964, alongside uncollected and unpublished material from the Calvin C Hernton papers at Ohio University, a new critical introduction, and detailed notes, chronology, and bibliography.

Endorsements

"Selected Poems of Calvin C. Hernton restores this important activist and writer to his rightful place in American literary history, covering in detail a prolific career that framed and helped ignite the cultural explosion that was the Black Arts Movement." Tyrone Williams, David Gray Chair, SUNY Buffalo

"In this collection, the full range of Calvin Hernton's voice soars, from smoky Umbra into registers sacred and profane, raging and comic, righteous and tender. A revelation." Tsitsi Jaji, author of Mother Tongues

"Reading Hernton's selected poems is like stepping into a time machine to witness the rise of the Black Arts Movement first hand. David Grundy and Lauri Scheyer have done American poetry and poetics a tremendous service by recovering one of the Black Arts Movement's founding voice." Herman Beavers, Julie Beren Platt and Marc E Platt President's Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

AUGUST 2023

Poetry • American

256 Pages • 6 x 9 • QSR • 10 b&w halftones

9780819500359 • $95.00 • Hardcover

9780819500366 • $24.95 • Trade Paperback

Also available as an e-book

CALVIN COOLIDGE HERNTON (1932 2001) was an American sociologist, poet, and author, particularly renowned for his 1965 study Sex and Racism in America and for co-founding the Society of Umbra ISHMAEL REED (Oakland, CA) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor, and publisher.

DAVID GRUNDY (London, England) is the author of A Black Arts Poetry Machine: Amiri Baraka and the Umbra Poets. LAURI SCHEYER (Glencoe, IL) is Xiaoxiang Scholars Program Distinguished Professor and founding Director of the British and American Poetry Research Center at Hunan Normal University (China)