Joy Priest

Joy Priest is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh, affiliated with the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics (CAAPP). She holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Literature from the University of Houston, an MFA from the University of South Carolina, and a BA in Print Journalism from the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on African Diasporic literatures, ecopoetics, and Black counter-humanist philosophy, with a particular emphasis on the American South.

Priest’s creative and scholarly work has been recognized with prestigious awards including a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize. She teaches courses in poetry writing and contemporary poetics, and her poetry and essays appear in outlets like The Atlantic, Boston Review, and ESPN.

As Curator of Community Programs & Practice at CAAPP, Priest bridges academic and community engagement through literary projects. She has facilitated poetry workshops with incarcerated populations and is a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective.