A. Van Jordan (born 1965) is an American poet. He is a professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and was previously a college professor in the Department of English Language & Literature at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and distinguished visiting professor at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

. He previously served as the first Henry Rutgers Presidential Professor at the

Rutgers University-Newark Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was affi ...

. He is the author of four collections: ''Rise'' (2001), ''M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A'' (2005), ''Quantum Lyrics'' (2007), and ''The Cineaste'' (2013). Jordan's awards include a Whiting Writers Award, a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

and a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

Early life

Jordan graduated from

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

in 1987 with a B.A. degree in English Literature. He graduated from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in 1990 with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Organizational Communications. He graduated from

Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a required course of study, work an on-campus j ...

in 1998 with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

(MFA) degree, and also holds an additional MFA in Screenwriting (2016) from the

Vermont College of Fine Arts Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level college affiliated with California Institute of the Arts. It offers Master's degrees in a low-residency format. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award wi ...

. He lived in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, from 1988 to 2002.

Career

Jordan is the author of four full-length collections. ''Rise'' (Tia Chucha Press, 2001) won the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. ''M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A'' (2005), about MacNolia Cox, which was listed as one of the Best Books of 2005 by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (London); ''Quantum Lyrics'' (2007); and ''The Cineaste'' ( W.W. Norton & Co., 2013). In 2013 he published a chapbook called ''The Homesteader'', and in 2021, he published an ekphrastic chapbook, ''I Want to See My Skirt'', in collaboration with filmmaker Cauleen Smith, based on photographs by Malian photographer Malick Sidibé. Both of his chapbooks were published by Unicorn Press, Greensboro, NC, and edited by Andrew Saulters. Jordan taught at

, the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina, University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the S ...

, the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, where he was tenured as an associate professor, and as professor at the University of Michigan. In 2014, he became Rutgers University-Newark's first Henry Rutgers Presidential Professor, before returning to the University of Michigan in 2017, where he serves as the Robert Hayden Collegiate Professor of English Language & Literature. His academic interests include the writing of poetry, the history of poetry in English, and cinematic studies. His work has appeared in ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

'', and ''

Callaloo Callaloo ( , ; many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux, or callalloo) is a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries, while for other Caribbean countries, a stew made with the plant is called call ...

'', among other publications.

Awards

* 2002:

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

* 2005:

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

* 2006:

XXX * 2007:

* 2008: United States Artist Williams Fellowship * 2015: Lannan Literary Award in Poetry

Works

"Einstein Defining Special Relativity"; "Einstein Ruminates on Relativity", ''Reading Between A&B''

Poetry

*''Rise'' (Tia Chucha Press, 2001) *''M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004) *''Quantum Lyrics'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007) *''The Cineaste'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2013)

Essays

Personal life

Jordan is married to

Shirley Collado Shirley M. Collado is an American psychology professor and academic administrator. She was the 9th president of Ithaca College. Collado was the second woman to hold the post and the first person of color. She is the first Dominican American to be ...

, a professor of psychology and former president of Ithaca College.

References

External links

Interview with A. Van Jordan in ''Nat Creole Magazine'', #8, April 2006
*Audio
A. Van Jordan reads "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" from ''Quantum Lyrics''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, A. Van 1965 births 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American poets American male poets Living people PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners Poets from Ohio University of Michigan faculty University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Warren Wilson College alumni Warren Wilson College faculty Wittenberg University alumni Writers from Akron, Ohio