Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Rowan Ricardo Phillips is the Presidential Distinguished Professor in English at Stony Brook University's College of Arts and Sciences, where he teaches courses on poetry, African American literature, and interdisciplinary topics like baseball and literature. A Brown University PhD (2003), his academic work intersects with his creative practice as a lauded poet and essayist.

• Education: PhD in English, Brown University (2003)

Phillips' research spans poetic form, African American literary traditions, and cultural intersections between sports, politics, and philosophy. His works—including the forthcoming I Just Want Them to Remember Me (2025)—interrogate historical narratives and contemporary societal tensions through lyric innovation and interdisciplinary analysis.

His publications demonstrate trends in political poetry, transatlantic literary dialogue, and cultural commentary spanning 9/11, the Obama era, and the Trump/Covid period. Awards include the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (2016) and Guggenheim Fellowship (2015).

Scientific and Literary Awards

• Whiting Writers’ Award (2013)
• Guggenheim Fellowship (2015)
• National Book Award Longlist (2015, 2024)
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry (2016)
• PEN/ESPN Literary Sportswriting Award (2019)
• Academy of American Arts and Letters Award (2025)

Phillips teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including Black American Literature, History of Lyric Poetry, and doctoral seminars on Black Literary and the Theory of the Lyric. He also serves as Poetry Editor for The New Republic and Curatorial Consultant for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball (2024).