Janice N. Harrington – Författare

This lyrical middle-grade novel-in-verse celebrates the power of story and of finding one's individual voice.

A lyrical and biographical reflection on the art and life of Horace H. Pippin--the best-known African American artist of his time--Primitive offers a searching critique of the condescension to African American folk art as supposedly "primitive," and it also critiques the underestimation of African American life and imagination in the broader American consciousness. Award-winning poet Janice N. Harrington connects readers to this fascinating, odds-defying artist, all while underscoring the human craving for artistic expression.

Winner of the 90th Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardWinner of the 2025 PEN/Voelcker AwardFinalist for the Midland Authors Award (Poetry)Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle AwardNamed one of the top 25 Best New Poetry Books by the New York Public LibraryBlack history, cultural expression, and the natural world fuse in Janice N. Harrington’s Yard Show to investigate how Black Americans have shaped a sense of belonging and place within the Midwestern United States. As seen through the documentation of objects found within yard shows, this collection of descriptive, lyrical, and experimental poems speaks to the Black American Imagination in all its multiplicity.Harrington’s speaker is a chronicler of yesterdays, using the events of the past to center and advocate for a future that celebrates pleasure and self-fulfillment within Black communities.