Kevin Young

Kevin Young is an acclaimed American poet, essayist, editor, and former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (2021-2025) and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He serves as the poetry editor of The New Yorker, where he hosts the Poetry Podcast, and has authored numerous books of poetry including Night Watch (2025) and Stones (2021), as well as nonfiction works like The Grey Album (2012). Young studied under Seamus Heaney and Lucie Brock-Broido at Harvard and is recognized for blending personal history with cultural criticism.