Department of English

Porsha Olayiwola

Portia Olayiwola

Jacob Ziskind Poet in Residence

Select Publications

  • "i shimmer sometimes, too," Button Poetry, 2019.

  • Serena included in anthology, BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic Anthology. Haymarket Books, 2018.

  • Boston Ode included in anthology, DW Cities: Boston Anthology, 2019

  • Poems in Vassar Review, Boston Globe Magazine, Wildness Press, The Academy of American Poets, Transition Magazine, Redivider Journal, Essences Magazine, Up The Staircase Quarterly, and elsewhere.

  • Videos & Cinematography, "Change Makers" Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2021, and “Black Beacon or History as a Crown of Sonnets” Boston NBC, 2020

Selected Awards

  • Boston Poet Laureate, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, Jan 2019- Dec 2022
  • Poetry Fellowship, Just Buffalo Literary Center, 2021

  • Artist-in-Residence, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, May 2021 - June 2021

  • Laureate Fellow, The Academy of American Poets, June 2020 - July 2021

  • Heimark Artist-in-Residence, Brown University, January 2020- December 2020

  • Brother Thomas Fellow, The Boston Foundation, 2019

  • Live Arts Boston Grant, 2019

  • The Boston Foundation,GK 100 Most Influential People of Color, 2018