The Tradition

Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Jericho Brown's 'The Tradition' is a powerful collection that delves into the normalization of evil and its historical impact on the personal. Brown masterfully explores themes of fatherhood, legacy, Blackness, queerness, worship, and trauma, distilling them into profoundly human questions about safety, nationhood, and freedom. Through his innovative use of the duplex—a unique blend of the sonnet, ghazal, and blues—Brown crafts mythical pastorals that confront societal terrors while celebrating the resilience of the human spirit. This collection is both incisive and essential, relentlessly pursuing survival amidst a vibrant embrace of contradiction.
Why You Should Read?
Experience the groundbreaking poetic form of the duplex, a unique invention by Jericho Brown that blends traditional structures with contemporary themes.
Engage with profound explorations of identity, trauma, and survival through the lens of Black and queer experiences.
Discover a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection recognized for its precision, honesty, and ability to transform public subjects into intimate narratives.
Reflect on universal questions of safety, freedom, and national identity, presented with stunning clarity and lyrical power.
About the Author
Jericho Brown
is an American poet. He is the author of three collections of poetry: 'Please' (2008), 'The New Testament' (2014), and 'The Tradition' (2019). His work has earned him numerous accolades, including a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Brown's poetry is known for its lyrical intensity and its unflinching examination of race, sexuality, and masculinity.