Tongo Eisen-Martin

Tongo Eisen-Martin is an African-American poet and activist.[1] He is the current poet laureate of San Francisco, California.[2][3]

Tongo Eisen-Martin in 2021

Biography

Tongo Eisen-Martin was born in 1980 in San Francisco, California[4] to a revolutionary mother Arlene Eisen.[5] His parents named him after Josiah Tongogara. Muralist Miranda Bergman is his godmother. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree in African-American Studies,[6] all from Columbia University[7][8] where he taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies,[4] creating the 2012 curriculum We Charge Genocide Again![2] He has also taught at detention centers, including San Quentin and Rikers Island.[5] He is the co-founder of Black Freighter Press.[3]

Honors and awards

Eisen-Martin's 2017 book Heaven Is All Goodbyes published by City Lights won a PEN Oakland Award,[6] the 2018 American Book Award,[4] 2018 California Book Award,[9] and 2018 National California Booksellers Association Poetry Book of the Year.[4]

Works
  • Someone's Dead Already. Bootstrap Press. 2015. ISBN 9780988610835
  • Heaven is All Goodbyes. City Lights. 2017. ISBN 9780872867451
  • Waiting Behind Tornados for Food. Materials. 2020.[10]
  • Blood on the Fog: Pocket Poets Series No. 62 Tongo Eisen-Martin. City Lights. 2021. ISBN 9780872868755

References
  1. Wick, Julia (12 February 2021). "Essential California: Talking San Francisco with the city's new poet laureate". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  2. Getachew, Samuel (15 January 2021). "Tongo Eisen-Martin Selected as San Francisco's Poet Laureate". KQED. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. Darden, Jenee (27 April 2021). "San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin Wants To Give People Power Through Publishing". KALW. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. "Tongo Eisen-Martin". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. Feldberg, Sarah (19 July 2020). "Poet Tongo Eisen-Martin's view of San Francisco during pandemic and protests". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. Li, Grace (15 January 2021). "Tongo Eisen-Martin is San Francisco's New Poet Laureate". SF Weekly. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. "About Tongo-Eisen Martin". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  8. "Alumni in the News: January 25". Columbia College Today. 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  9. "Tongo Eisen-Martin, Poet - Brief but Spectacular". PBS Newshour. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  10. Eisen-Martin, Tongo (2020-11-30). Waiting Behind Tornados For Food. Materials.


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