Night Watch

Kevin Young is the director of Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and poetry editor of the New Yorker. He was previously the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He is the author of a number of books of poetry and prose, including Stones, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Jelly Roll: A Blues, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry; and Bunk, a New York Times Notable Book, longlisted for the National Book Award. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.

'One of the most important poets of his generation' Washington Post 
 
A richly evocative and moving collection about African American identity and history, this is an ode to home places and the dearly departed, and to what of them – of us – poetry can save. 
 
In bellowing declarations of suffering and whispered prayers of faith, Night Watch speaks to an inner history which is compelling and authentic and deeply American, rippling with timely and devastating truths about the insidious nature of the American nation. 
 
'Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes' New York Times

Kevin Young

One of the most important poets of his generation... There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine.

Kevin Young perfectly illustrates poetry's enduring vitality.

Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes. Even the bootlegs have bootlegs.

One of the poetry stars of his generation.

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S. ELIOT PRIZE 2021** 
 
A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, 'one of the poetry stars of his generation' (Los Angeles Times). 
 
'We sleep long, / if not sound,' Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, 'Till the end / we sing / into the wind.' In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South - one poem, 'Kith', exploring that strange bedfellow of 'kin' - the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. 'Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don't know / are his dead.' 
 
Whether it's the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering, precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young's home places and his dear departed, and to what of them - of us - poetry can save.

Kevin Young

Praise for Stones

One of the most important poets of his generation... There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine.

Kevin Young perfectly illustrates poetry's enduring vitality.

Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes. Even the bootlegs have bootlegs.

One of the most important poets of his generation... There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine.

Kevin Young perfectly illustrates poetry's enduring vitality.

Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes. Even the bootlegs have bootlegs.

One of the most important poets of his generation... There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine.

Kevin Young perfectly illustrates poetry's enduring vitality.

Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes. Even the bootlegs have bootlegs.

Books by Kevin Young

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