Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Creative Writing Airea Dee Matthews is a Los Angeles Times Book Awards poetry finalist for her book of poems Bread and Circus. The book by Matthews, Philadelphia's 2022–2023 poet laureate, is an autobiographical collection of poems about the economics of class and was described as "discerning and significant" by the Poetry Foundation. The awards ceremony will take place on April 19, on the eve of the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Matthews' first collection of poems is the critically acclaimed Simulacra, which won the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Her work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Poetry, The New York Times, Best American Poets, and elsewhere.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 06, 2024 03:33 UTC