Patricia Spears Jones is an African American poet/playwright/anthologist/activist and author of The Beloved Community (Copper Canyon) and A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems (White Pine) and nine other poetry collections. She is the Poet Laureate for New York State and recipient of the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize, NEA and NYFA grants, and the Foundation of Contemporary Arts award. She is organizer of American Poets Congress and Emeritus Fellow of Black Earth Institute.