Lecture by acclaimed poet closes Arts Celebration

March 22, 2022 (Volume 45, Number 14)
Article by Peg West

The GVSU Arts Celebration Lecture presents Hanif Abdurraqib on April 5.

Photo Credit: courtesy photo

Acclaimed poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, who was recently named a MacArthur Fellow, will present the GVSU Arts Celebration Lecture.

The evening with Abdurraqib will include his lecture and a conversation after with Louis Moore, professor of history, who teaches African American history, civil rights, sports and U.S. history.

The virtual event, which closes out this year's GVSU Arts Celebration, will be held at 7 p.m. April 5. You can register to receive the link.

Abdurraqib will share ideas from his latest book, "A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance." The book received wide praise; the Los Angeles Review of Books called Abdurraqib "one of the most exciting writers of his generation."

The MacArthur Fellows Program described Abdurraqib as someone "forging a distinctive style of cultural and artistic criticism through the lens of popular music and autobiography."

"The best musicians and the best writers are essentially tour guides through the interior of a world that you cannot on your own touch. And I think that's something I'm always chasing," Abdurraqib said in the video posted on the MacArthur Fellows Program website.