We are beyond thrilled to share the news that author Kwame Dawes has been named a 2019 Windham–Campbell Prize Recipient in poetry! The Windham–Campbell Prizes, announced on March 12, 2019, honor living English-language writers across the globe.

In its award, the Windham–Campbell Prize notes of Kwame Dawes: “Dawes’s visceral, memorable, and urgent lyricism results in a poetry of compassion, moral seriousness, and depth that resonates across continents.”

Dawes is the author of two novels for Akashic: She’s Gone and the forthcoming Bivouac. He is also the coeditor, with Chris Abani, of Akashic’s annual New-Generation African Poetry Box Set series. New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Sita) is the forthcoming box set, out in June 2019.

Congratulations to Kwame on this well-deserved honor!