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The Essential June Jordan

The definitive introduction to the work of 'the bravest of us . . . the universal poet' (Alice Walker) 
 
For the poet and activist June Jordan, neither poetry nor activism could easily be disentangled from the other. Her storied career came to chronicle a living, breathing history of the struggles that defined the USA in the latter half of the twentieth century; and her poetry, accordingly, put its dazzling stylistic range to use in exploring issues of gender, race, immigration, representation and much else besides. 
 
Here, above all, are sinuous, lashing and passionate lines, virtuosic in their musicality and always bearing the stamp of Jordan's irrepressible personality. Here are poems of suffusing light and profound anger: poems moved as much by political animus as by a deep love for the observation of human life in all its foibles, eccentricities, strengths and weaknesses. 
 
With a foreword by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, The Essential June Jordan allows new readers to discover - and old fans to rediscover - the vital work of this endlessly surprising poet who, in the words of Adrienne Rich, believed that 'genuine, up-from-the-bottom revolution must include art, laughter, sensual pleasure, and the widest possible human referentiality.'

June Jordan (Author) June Jordan was born in Harlem in 1936 and was the author of ten books of poetry, seven collections of essays, two plays, a libretto, a novel, a memoir, five children’s books, and June Jordan’s Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint. As a professor at UC Berkeley, Jordan established Poetry for the People, a program to train student teachers to teach the power of poetry from a multicultural worldview. She was a regular columnist for The Progressive and her articles appeared in The Village Voice, The New York Times, Ms., Essence, and The Nation. She died of breast cancer in 2002. Christoph Keller (External Editor) Born in Switzerland, Christoph Keller is a novelist, memoirist and editor. His books include the bestselling 2003 memoir-novel Der beste Tänzer (The Best Dancer) and 2019's Der Boden unter den Füßen (The Ground Beneath Our Feet; winner of the Alemannic Literature Prize). Based for many years in New York City, he now lives in St Gallen.

For the poet and activist June Jordan, neither poetry nor activism could easily be disentangled from the other. Her storied career came to chronicle a living, breathing history of the struggles that defined the USA in the latter half of the twentieth century; and her poetry, accordingly, put its dazzling stylistic range to use in exploring issues of gender, race, immigration, representation and much else besides. 
 
Here, above all, are sinuous, lashing and passionate lines, virtuosic in their musicality and always bearing the stamp of Jordan's irrepressible personality. Here are poems of suffusing light and profound anger: poems moved as much by political animus as by a deep love for the observation of human life in all its foibles, eccentricities, strengths and weaknesses. 
 
With a foreword by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, The Essential June Jordan allows new readers to discover - and old fans to rediscover - the vital work of this endlessly surprising poet who, in the words of Adrienne Rich, believed that 'genuine, up-from-the-bottom revolution must include art, laughter, sensual pleasure, and the widest possible human referentiality.'

Selected Essays

Nothing Less Than Love

'In political journalism that cuts like razors, in essays that blast the darkness of confusion with relentless light, in poetry that looks as closely into lilac buds as into death’s mouth… she (June Jordan) has comforted, explained, described, wrestled with, taught and made us laugh out loud before we wept' - Toni Morrison 
 
An essential collection on race, power and the radical force of love from one of the twentieth century’s most singular voices, newly rediscovered. For June Jordan, writing was inseparable from the conditions of living. Across decades of work, her essays bear witness to the shifting landscapes of race, gender, power and resistance, tracing with clarity and urgency the forces that shaped life and global entanglements.In Nothing Less than Love, her prose is at once incisive and expansive, moving between the intimate and the political, the immediate and the historical. Attentive to both systemic injustice and the textures of everyday life, Jordan interrogates language, challenges silence and insists on the necessity of truth to save us all. What emerges is not only critique, but a vision of love as discipline, as commitment, as a force capable of remaking both self and society. 
Elegant, unsparing, and deeply humane, this collection affirms Jordan’s place as a writer of enduring power and reach.

June Jordan was born in Harlem in 1936 and was the author of ten books of poetry, seven collections of essays, two plays, a libretto, a novel, a memoir, five children’s books, and June Jordan’s Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint. As a professor at UC Berkeley, Jordan established Poetry for the People, a program to train student teachers to teach the power of poetry from a multicultural worldview. She was a regular columnist for The Progressive and her articles appeared in The Village Voice, The New York Times, Ms., Essence, and The Nation. She died of breast cancer in 2002.

'In political journalism that cuts like razors, in essays that blast the darkness of confusion with relentless light, in poetry that looks as closely into lilac buds as into death’s mouth… she (June Jordan) has comforted, explained, described, wrestled with, taught and made us laugh out loud before we wept' - Toni Morrison 
 
An essential collection on race, power and the radical force of love from one of the twentieth century’s most singular voices, newly rediscovered. 
 
 For June Jordan, writing was inseparable from the conditions of living. Across decades of work, her essays bear witness to the shifting landscapes of race, gender, power and resistance, tracing with clarity and urgency the forces that shaped life and global entanglements.In Nothing Less than Love, her prose is at once incisive and expansive, moving between the intimate and the political, the immediate and the historical. Attentive to both systemic injustice and the textures of everyday life, Jordan interrogates language, challenges silence and insists on the necessity of truth to save us all. What emerges is not only critique, but a vision of love as discipline, as commitment, as a force capable of remaking both self and society.Elegant, unsparing, and deeply humane, this collection affirms Jordan’s place as a writer of enduring power and reach.

June Jordan

‘we are the ones we have been waiting for’ 
 
These poems of radical love, urgency and global consciousness reach across borders to break open the silence of oppression and the taboo, liberating both body and soul. 
 
Lively and enigmatic, Passion is June Jordan’s most accomplished and animated collection. Her virtuosic, resolute words have inspired generations of readers and activists across the world, from Nobel Laureates to US Presidents.

June Jordan

Books by June Jordan

Articles featuring June Jordan

Where to start reading the Penguin Archive collection

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