Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tyehimba Jess will read from and discuss his work. Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Olio and Leadbelly. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. In it, Jess presents the sweat and story behind America’s blues, worksongs and church hymns. The book won numerous other awards and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award Leadbelly, was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. It is a biography in poems that examines the life and times of the legendary blues musician. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the best poetry books of the year. Jess' fiction and poetry have appeared in many journals, as well as anthologies such as Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry; and Beyond The Frontier: African American Poetry for the Twenty-First Century.