avery r. young

avery r. young is an interdisciplinary artist and an educator. His poetry and prose were featured in The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (2015), Teaching Black (2021), The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks (2017), and AIMprint, among other publications. His writing is featured alongside images in photographer Cecil McDonald Jr’s In the Company of Black (2018). The full-length recording tubman. (FPE Records) is the soundtrack to his collection of poetry, neckbone: visual verses (2019). Young’s album booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid (FPE Records) engages matters of race, gender, and sexuality in the United States during the Obama era.

Young’s work in performance, visual text, and sound design has been featured in several exhibitions and theater festivals, including the Chicago Hip Hop Theater Fest, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the American Jazz Museum. In addition, he is one of four directors of the Floating Museum, a co-mentor for the Rebirth Youth Poetry Ensemble, and performs with his band, de deacon board.

In 2023, young was appointed the inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate. Young is a 3Arts awardee, a poetry editor for Bridge, and a former Cave Canem fellow. With more than two decades of experience in the teaching artist field, young has led programs in and out of schools, community-based organizations, and other learning environments. He has served as a teaching artist for the Arts + Public Life residencies at the University of Chicago and dedicated his work to helping youth overcome social and economic barriers to accessing Chicago’s artistic and cultural vitality.