Rowan Ricardo Phillips
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Rowan Ricardo Phillips (born 1974 in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
) is an American poet, writer, editor, and translator. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...
, the poetry editor of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', and the editor of
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
' Princeton Series of Contemporary Poetry. He is President of the Board of the
New York Institute for the Humanities New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. He is the author of the poetry collections ''The Ground'' (2012), ''Heaven'' (2015), and ''Living Weapon'' (2020), the non-fiction books ''When Blackness Rhymes with Blackness'' and ''The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey'', and a translation from the Catalan of
Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...
's short-story collection ''Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth''.


Life

Phillips was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. His parents are from
Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...
. He graduated from
Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...
, then earned his bachelor's degree from
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
and his doctorate in English Literature from
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
. Phillips teaches Creative Writing at
Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...
. He is a Professor of English at
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...
. He has previously taught at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
, Columbia, Williams,
NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...
, and
Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City, United States. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the colle ...
. Phillips is President of the Board of the
New York Institute for the Humanities New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. He is also a member of the Board of Aspen Words. He divides his time between New York and Barcelona with his wife and two daughters. He is a supporter, and club member, of
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
.


Writing


Poetry

Phillips's first three books of poems––''The Ground'', ''Heaven'', and ''Living Weapon''––can be read as a poetry trilogy. The poet
Henri Cole Henri Cole (born May 9, 1956) is an American poet, who has published many collections of poetry and a memoir. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic. Biography Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to a ...
stated: "Like all good poets, Rowan Ricardo Phillips writes from a zone of his own creation, mixing the traditions of his West Indian ancestry with American poetry. He is a hopeful poet, a rising star." Poet and scholar
Evie Shockley Evie Shockley is an American poet. Shockley received the 2012 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry for her book ''the new black'' and the 2012 Holmes National Poetry Prize. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018. Early life and education ...
wrote of ''The Ground'' that Phillips's poems "carry the authoritative descriptions and rhythms of Walcott, the philosophical and symbolic flights of Stevens, the subtle humor and cosmopolitanism of
Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...
, but in a language whose musical blend of the contemporary and the timeless is all Phillips's own. In a 2021 review of ''Living Weapon'' for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', David Wheatley writes that "Phillips's determination to push beyond irony into affirmation is an audacious gesture". Phillips is the author of a book of literary criticism on African-American poetry, ''When Blackness Rhymes with Blackness'' (2010), and a translation from the Catalan of
Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...
's story collection ''Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth'' (2012). Phillips' fourth poetry collection, ''Silver'', was published in 2024 by
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...
in the United States and was longlisted for the
National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".
.


Sportswriting

Phillips has contributed sportswriting on tennis, soccer, basketball, and baseball. in a number of magazines. About his book ''The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey'', the novelist
John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...
wrote, "Phillips writes with such fluidity, and packs the book with bursts of brilliance." The book follows the 2017 men's
ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
, featuring players
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
,
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
,
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
,
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
,
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...
, and
Albert Ramos Viñolas Albert Ramos Viñolas (; born 17 January 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved in May 2017 after reaching the final of the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters. Career Juniors R ...
. Phillips wrote a screenplay for a biopic of baseball icon
Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December ...
adapted from the
David Maraniss David Maraniss ( ; born August 6, 1949) is an American award-winning journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. Maraniss is the author of numerous books, ranging from politics to sports. He has w ...
biography ''Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero''. As of 2018, the film was planned to be directed by
Ezra Edelman Ezra Benjamin Edelman (born August 6, 1974) is an American documentary producer and director. He won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming for directing ' ...
. Phillips is also a consultant for the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...
, where he is part of the curatorial team working on a new exhibit called "Souls of the Game", which focuses on the history of Black baseball. Phillips is currently writing a book about Black baseball entitled ''I Just Want Them to Remember Me: Black Baseball in America'', which will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


Awards

Phillips has been the recipient of a
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, ...
, 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 ...
, the
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award 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 ...
, and the Nicolás Guillén Outstanding Book Prize. He won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry in 2013 and the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting in 2019.


Bibliography


Poetry collections

* * *
Living Weapon: Poems.
' Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2020. . *''
Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2024.


Poetry contributions

* "Violins.
''African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song''
edited by Kevin Young. Library of America. 2020. .


Criticism

*


Nonfiction

*
The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey
'' Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2018. .


Translation

*


References


External links


Rowan Ricardo Phillips websiteRicardo Phillips on “Mappa Mundi”Rowand Ricardo Phillips, 2013 winner in poetry, from WhitingQ & A: Rowan Ricardo Phillips with FSG Poet Lawrence JosephBiography, poetry excerpts from Griffin Poetry Prize website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Rowan Ricardo 1974 births American male poets American people of Antigua and Barbuda descent Poets from New York City Swarthmore College alumni Brown University alumni Living people 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers