“It’s about saying ‘hello’ to the people of colour in the room, ‘let’s talk’.” “This book does not care about white people,” Smith says bluntly. because black boys can always be too loud to live.ĭon’t Call Us Dead was a collection that spoke truth to white power and made Smith a literary star. you took one look at the river, plump with the body of boy after girl after sweet boi & ask why does it always have to be about race? … because Jordan boomed. i tried to love you, but you spent my brother’s funeral making plans for brunch, talking too loud next to his bones. The poem “dear white America” became a viral sensation, with Smith’s intense performance of it earning comparisons to “ Howl” – Allen Ginsberg’s exasperated condemnation of the US in the 1950s. It was a finalist for the National book award in the US, and at 29, Smith became the youngest ever winner of the Forward best collection prize, beating US poet laureate Tracy K Smith to take the top honour. Smith’s 2014 debut, boy, marked the arrival of a new voice their 2017 collection Don’t Call Us Dead confronted issues that were raging in the US as the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum, holding a mirror up to America’s racism and advocating urgently for change, while touching on Smith’s own HIV diagnosis. They live in Minneapolis near their people.Danez Smith performs ‘dear white America’ in 2014. Danez has been featured as part of Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list and is the winner of a Pushcart Prize. Former co-host of the Webby nominated podcast VS (Versus), they are the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, Princeton, United States Artists, the McKnight Foundation, the Montalvo Arts Center, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Danez is a member of the Dark Noise Collective.

Danez's poetry and prose has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, Best American Poetry and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

They have won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and have been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, the National Book Critic Circle Award, and the National Book Award. Danez Smith is the author of three collections including Homie and Don’t Call Us Dead.

Homie poems danez smith