The Big Smoke by Adrian Matejka

The Big Smoke

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The Big Smoke by Adrian Matejka
  • The Big Smoke by Adrian Matejka
The Big Smoke

Penguin Books

The Big Smoke

by Adrian Matejka

$20.00
$20.00

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A suite of poems examining the myth and history of the legendary prizefighter Jack Johnson--a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award--from the author, with Youssef Daoudi, of the graphic novel Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century

The legendary Jack Johnson (1878-1946) was a true American creation. The child of emancipated slaves, he overcame the violent segregationism of Jim Crow, challenging white boxers--and white America--to become the first African-American heavyweight world champion. The Big Smoke, Adrian Matejka's third work of poetry, follows the fighter's journey from poverty to the most coveted title in sports through the multi-layered voices of Johnson and the white women he brazenly loved. Matejka's book is part historic reclamation and part interrogation of Johnson's complicated legacy, one that often misremembers the magnetic man behind the myth.
Book Details
Publisher:
Penguin Books
ISBN:
9780143123729
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
128
Authors:
Adrian Matejka
Published Date:
2013-05-28
Language:
English
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African American & Black All Poetry

About Adrian Matejka

Adrian Matejka's third collection, The Big Smoke (Penguin, 2013), was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, and raised in Indianapolis, he earned an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His earlier collection Mixology (Penguin, 2009) was selected for the National Poetry Series, and The Big Smoke went on to win the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 2014. He served as Indiana Poet Laureate from 2018 to 2019 and now edits Poetry magazine. Other books include Map to the Stars (Penguin, 2017), Somebody Else Sold the World (Penguin, 2021), and the graphic novel Last on His Feet (Liveright, 2023).

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