Kemi Alabi’s full-length poetry manuscript has been selected by Claudia Rankine as the winner of the 2021 Academy of American Poets First Book Award.

The Academy of American Poets’ First Book Award was founded in 1975 with the aim of bringing the works of many emerging poets to a wide audience. The prize includes publication of the winning manuscript, $5,000 cash prize, a six-week fully-funded residency in a 15^th century castle in Umbria, Italy. The Academy of American Poets will also buy and send thousands of copies of the book to its members. Previous winners include Nicole Cooley, Alberto Rios, and Jenny Xie.

Kemi Alabi’s Manuscript titled, Against Heaven, will be published by Graywolf Press in April 2022.

Here is what Claudia Rankine said about Alabi’s work:

“Against Heaven activates multiple lexicons, seeking to construct the immensity of black queer subjectivity with guile and formal virtuosity. At once sonic and disruptive, these poems pull together everything in a world where nothing is sacred. In this energetic and brilliant debut, the thrust of the lyric dislodges all that is stuck and stagnant, creating new possibilities for utterance.”

Kemi Alabi holds a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Boston University. Their work has received a Pushcart Prize, the 2020 Beacon Street Poetry Prize, a Best of the Net, and has appeared in, among other places, The Atlantic, Poetry, and Boston Review.