Literary Arts

Matthew Shenoda is a writer, professor, and author and editor of several books. He began his teaching career in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University where he taught for nearly a decade and has since held several faculty and administrative positions at various institutions before becoming Professor and Chair at Brown. His poems and essays have appeared in a variety of newspapers, journals, radio programs and anthologies. His debut collection of poems, Somewhere Else (Coffee House Press), was named one of 2005's debut books of the year by Poets & Writers Magazine and was winner of a 2006 American Book Award. He is also the author of Seasons of Lotus, Seasons of Bone (BOA Editions Ltd.), Tahrir Suite (Northwestern University Press), winner of the 2015 Arab American Book Award, co-editor of Bearden’s Odyssey: Poets Respond to the Art of Romare Bearden (Northwestern University Press) and The Way of the Earth (Northwestern University Press). His latest book Holdings will be published in April 2027 from Knopf. Additionally, Shenoda is a founding editor of the African Poetry Book Fund.