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Some news to bring a little light into this new year:
“Fractures” just won the North American Book Award, Gold Medal for Poetry.

I do not take lightly that in the history of the North American Book Awards only 3 gold medals have been given out in this category. For “Fractures” to be recognized with one of them is humbling and a complete shock.

Somehow this mighty little book on a scrappy university press has won 7 (!) book awards since its release and found its way to readers across the globe.

While I was in the United Arab Emirates last month, several people came up to me with well-loved copies of “Fractures” that they’ve been reading and teaching in Dubai.

An extremely small percentage of published books make it to a fourth print run, and we’re already down to the last few dozen copies of “Fractures” before we’ll need a fifth printing of the book.

Big shoutout to all of the high school teachers, undergrad/MFA/grad professors, and librarians who’ve recommended, assigned, taught, championed, or made room for “Fractures” on their bookshelf. It means everything.

Back to the work. Onward.

#FracturesBook
#CarlosOnTour
#FelixPollakPrize
#NewManuscriptOnDeck…

Before I depart for Dubai (shortly) for my final performance and workshop of 2024, I’m reflecting on some highlights of my fall tour:

• Performing at the COLEGAS Annual Conference in Sacramento
(where I got the chance to connect with some of the most transformative, brilliant, and courageous higher ed administrators & educators I’ve ever encountered.)

• Receiving the inaugural Creative Life Award
(which allowed me to travel to DC and read some poems at Busboys & Poets, celebrate the incredible work of a non-profit I adore and admire, Writing Through, &, perhaps most special of all: see some of my dearest friends(and my god daughter!).)

• Being a featured author at the 20th Dodge Poetry Festival
(brought so many things full circle for me. There is nothing quite like a packed audience of poetry lovers. The lushness of the listening radiates off the walls.)

• Keynoting at the CIMPA Conference in the Cayman Islands
(a place I’ve traveled to and performed several times over the past two decades. It was so great to finally make it back after a long absence)

• Doing several day-long residencies at independent schools across the U.S.
(where we read poems closely, wrestled with global citizenship and what it means to bravely show up in the world, & I reconnected with some old friends I hadn’t seen in years.)

By my birthday this coming Monday, I will be back home and ready to decompress and unplug.

I am so grateful to everyone who hosted me for a gig this semester, assigned “Fractures” to their college students, or drove to see me at a gig. Ultimately, art is a catalyst for connection. And I feel so humbled by the ways so many show up for me and continue to champion my work.

Next month, I kick off my 2025 tour with scheduled visits to PA, IL, OH, KS, NY, IN, CA, MI, and I’ll be closing out my spring tour in Japan at the end of May.

If you (or someone you know) might want to jump in the mix and book me for a keynote, performance, or residency at your school, organization, conference, festival, or company—send me a note.

With all my heart,
Carlos

hashtag#CarlosOnTour
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hashtag#APCA
hashtag#APCAbaby
hashtag#COLEGAS
hashtag#DodgePoetryFestival

I first saw Nikki Giovanni in the fall of my sophomore year of college.

I’d never seen anyone so uncompromising and electrifying. She took hold of a room of about 500 people that day in a way I’ve never seen paralleled. As generous and love-centered with each word, as she was irreverent and sharp-edged. Nothing and no one was spared.

It was a transformative lesson for me that I’m still learning from on what radical love looks like embodied and in public. She held a mirror to my complicities, my hesitations, my self-doubts and called me forward. Called all of us toward something more courageous.

That evening I first saw her, she read a poem of hers about Emmett Till, in particular reckoning with those who asked Mamie Till-Mobley why she wouldn’t feel ashamed to leave the casket of her dear son open. And Emmett’s mom responding, “This not my shame. This is yours.”

Encountering that idea at a time in my life where I was so overcome with a confluence of shames—inherited, cultural, intergenerational, etc—was revelatory.

I went home and wrote a poem after Nikki’s piece, which I hand-wrote out, recorded a recitation of (on cassette tape!), and mailed (with a Thank you card) addressed to Professor Giovanni at Virginia Tech.

A month later, she mailed me back a glowing hand-written letter about my poem and how much it meant to her to receive my package.

I think now, even more than I recognized then, how utterly absurd it was for her to respond at all. My goodness. That she remained so deliberate about pouring into and lifting up so many of us? Whether colleagues, other writers, or a random sophomore in college who barely had a sense about anything?

There aren’t words for her impact or legacy, or the void left her absence. An absolute giant of history. And far beyond the immeasurable legacy of her creative work, I hope to emulate the kind of mentor and citizen she was.

What an honor to share the stage with her at two events over the years. This photo was taken at the first of them, that we did together in Philly in 2009.

#NikkiGiovanni

I’ve been a featured poet and headliner at festivals all over the world (more than a dozen countries), Split This Rock in DC, the Brooklyn Book Festival, and I’d never seen anything like the lineup for this year’s 20th celebration of the Dodge Poetry Festival.

Attending the 2006 festival in Stanhope, NJ as a baby poet was a life-altering revelation for me as a writer, reader, and human being.

Which is all to say: what a mind-blowing experience to be a featured author (nearly 20 years later!) at this iconic festival (the largest literary gathering in North America!).

Heartfelt thank you to everyone who traveled (some from several states away) to see me at the festival. It meant so much to me.

#DodgePoetryFestival
#CarlosOnTour
#20thDodgePoetryFestival

A couple of years back, Joe West, Brent Shuttleworth, and I hatched this idea to make a visually-stunning experimental short film of our track “Abuelita” (from my album, “Opus,” which was produced by Joe and Brent).

I was completely awed by the vision of Joe West, who directed, edited, filmed (with Shawn Hudgins), and conceived of the idea.

We’ve been quietly submitting the short film to festivals across the globe and, honestly, mind-blown by the ways it’s been celebrated:

33 awards (from 13 countries across 4 continents)
40 Official Selections for film festivals (17 countries across 6 continents)

I’m not going to list all the accolades here, but it’s been wild.

After a long wait, we are FINALLY ready to share our award-winning short film, Abuelita:

To watch it, CLICK HERE