Georgia Poet, Emory Professor Wins Pulitzer Prize

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Emory University professor and poet Jericho Brown is now the receipient of literature's highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize.

An Emory University professor and poet is now the recipient of literature's highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize.

Jericho Brown won the prize for his poetry collection The Tradition, which the Pulitzer Prize board said "interrupts complacency by locating each emergency in the garden of the body, where living things grow and wither — or survive."

This isn't the first time Brown received accolades for his work, either.

In 2008, Brown received the American Book Award for his first book, Please. He also received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 2014.

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“I have known about the Pulitzer Prize and understood its prestige since I was in elementary school and Rita Dove won it,” Brown told Decaturish. “Understanding it as a possibility doesn’t mean I ever expected to win it, and getting the news that I won is the very best thing to happen to me in 2020 by far.”

Brown is the creative writing director at Emory University.

ON SECOND THOUGHT: Poet Jericho Brown On The Consuming Inspirations Of 'The Tradition'

In their announcement, the Pulitzer Board praised Brown for shining a light on complicated subjects like rape, police brutality, and murder with his unique prose and perspective.

"Jericho Brown is a poet of eros," it said. "Here he wields this power as never before, touching the very heart of our cultural crisis."