Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is an American poet and educator who has published five poetry collections. His 2010 collection, Lighthead, won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2010. In September 2014, he was one of 21 recipients of the prestigious MacArthur fellowships awarded to individuals who show outstanding creativity in their work.

Life and education

Hayes was born in Columbia, South Carolina.

He received a B.A. from Coker College and an M.F.A. from the University of Pittsburgh writing program. He was a Professor of Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University until 2013, at which time he joined the faculty at the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh.

He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, the poet Yona Harvey, who also serves as a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and their children.

Works

Hayes first book of poetry, Muscular Music (1999), won both a Whiting Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. His second collection, Hip Logic (2002), won the National Poetry Series, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and runner-up for the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. He won the National Book Award for Lighthead.
Hayes poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Fence, The Kenyon Review, Jubilat Harvard Review, West Branch, Poetry, and The Adroit Journal’.
In praising Hayes’s work, Cornelius Eady has said: “First you’ll marvel at his skill, his near-perfect pitch, his disarming humor, his brilliant turns of phrase. Then you’ll notice the grace, the tenderness, the unblinking truth-telling just beneath his lines, the open and generous way he takes in our world.”
In September 2014, he was honored as one of the 21 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowship comes with a $625,000 stipend over five years and is one of the most prestigious prizes that is awarded for artists, scholars and professionals.
In January 2017, Hayes was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Awards

* 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow
2011 United States Artists Zell Fellow for Literature
2010 National Book Award for Poetry, for Lighthead
Pushcart Prize, a Best American Poetry 2005 selection
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
2009 Guggenheim Fellowship
James Laughlin Award runner-up, from the Academy of American Poets
Kate Tufts Discovery Award for Muscular Music (1999)
2001 National Poetry Series, for Hip Logic
1999 Whiting Award

Poetry collections

* How to Be Drawn (Penguin Books, 2015)
Lighthead (Penguin Books, 2010)—winner of the National Book Award
Wind in a Box. Penguin Books. 2006. ISBN 9781440626982.
Hip Logic. Penguin Books. 2002. ISBN 978-0-14-200139-4.
Muscular Music (Tia Chucha Press, 1999; reissued by Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2006)

References

Wikipedia—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrance_Hayes