Through Jeroslyn Jovonn
September 20, 2025
“To receive this prize, divine timing has been. There are many points in the career of a poet when you tap the microphone to ensure that you are heard. ‘
Mahogany L. Browne has been named the newest receiver of the Theodore H. Holmes ’51 and Bernice Holmes National Poetry Prize of the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program of Princeton University in Creative Writing.
The $ 5,000 prize contributes to the impressive list of awards from Browne, including the Kennedy Center of 2022 Kennedy Center Next 50 Fellowship, the MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award and a New York Emmy nomination for the documentary How to build a city.
A writer, playwright, organizer and educator, Browne has also received fellowships from all art, art for justice, Air Serenbe, Baldwin for the art, Cave Canem, Hawthornden, Poets House, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, Wesleyan University and the Ucros Foundation.
“To receive this prize, Divine Timing has been,” Browne said In a statement to Princeton. “There are many points in the career of a poet when you tap the microphone to ensure that you are heard.”
Not surprised by conservative pushback for the use of her art to celebrate diversity, the Black Girl Magic Author has confronted with frequent prohibitions of her works Woken: The call of a young poet for justice And Wakken Baby In the midst of efforts aimed at Critical Race Theory (CRT). Despite these challenges, Browne continues to defend inclusiveness through initiatives such as the Woke Baby Book Fair.
“With the current climate, my poems feel tense for sunlight and justice,” she said. “Thank you for this recognition. It is the support that dreams a lot and may never receive. I often write about the voices or knew completely from the archive. I thank for the price and encouragement while I return to the page to honor my ancestors, the elderly and chin.”
Browne’s works include Vinylmaan, chlorine, and her poetry collection Chrome Valley, It was emphasized by Publishers weekly And The New York Times and won the Paterson Poetry Prize 2024. Her newest young adult novel, A bird in the air means that we can still breathe, was on the lung list for the National Book Award 2025 for the literature of young people.
She also has an honoraryph.d. from Marymount Manhattan College and serves as the inaugural poet-in-residence in Lincoln Center.
“Mahogany Browne is a non-reinforcing Derwish who refuses to let any aspect of the creative empire go unexplored and non-distributed,” said award-winning poet and professor in the creative writing of Patricia Smith. “She is a literary and cultural activist and an author of a children’s book with a voice that calms and authorizes. They pens that focus on experiences that reflect the life of colored girls who are looking for the light of their own voices. And she is a revealing poet, consistently finding new ways to celebrate black lives.
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