Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

A&S Welcomes Distinguished Visiting Poet Nicole Sealey

Saturday, November 7, 2020, By Dan Bernardi
Share
College of Arts and Sciences
Nicole Sealey

Nicole Sealey (Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths)

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) welcomes renowned poet Nicole Sealey as the 2020-21 Distinguished Visiting Poet in the Department of English’s M.F.A. program in creative writing. This fall Sealey is teaching a graduate-level poetry forms class where students consider patience, an essential component of poetic composition, as practice. In the spring Sealey will instruct a graduate open poetry workshop. This marks a return to Syracuse University for Sealey, who took part in the 2018-19 Raymond Carver Reading Series.

Christopher Kennedy, professor of English and director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing says, “We’re very excited to have Nicole as our Distinguished Visiting Poet this year. She brings an impressive list of talents and accomplishments that will benefit our M.F.A. students tremendously.”

An acclaimed author, Sealey’s poetry book “Ordinary Beast” was a finalist for the PEN Open Book and Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards. It was also NPR’s most anticipated poetry book of 2017 and a top 10 poetry book for fall 2017 according to Publishers Weekly. Her book, “The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named,” was winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Sealey’s work has also appeared in national publications, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. Find a selection of Sealey’s poems at poets.org.

Sealey was recently a guest curator of that site’s “poem-a-day,” a daily series featuring new work by today’s poets. Sealey is also the founder of #TheSealeyChallenge, where participants read 31 poetry books in the 31 days of August. Readers are encouraged to share their progress and what they are reading on social media using the hashtag #TheSealeyChallenge.

According to Karin Ruhlandt, dean of A&S, working with one of the nation’s leading poets presents a unique and valuable opportunity for M.F.A. students in A&S. “Nicole’s award-winning work and signature style, which addresses race, sexuality, gender and history, explore topics of importance to scholars today,” she says. “It is an honor to welcome her as a Distinguished Visiting Poet. All of us are grateful to the friends of creative writing whose generosity made Nicole’s return possible.”

Born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and raised in Apopka, Florida, Sealey holds an M.L.A. degree in Africana studies from the University of South Florida and an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University. Her previous roles include: executive director at Cave Canem, a foundation cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets; 2018-19 Doris Lippman Visiting Poet at The City College of New York; visiting professor at Boston University; and 2019-20 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University.

  • Author

Dan Bernardi

  • Recent
  • Co-President of Disability Law Society Eyes Career in National Security Law in Washington
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Jordan Bruenger
  • National Grid Summer College Scholars Program Invests in Energy Literacy
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Hope Alvarez
  • Lights, Camera, Imagination! Faculty Help Turn Teens’ Ideas Into Films (Video)
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Diane Stirling
  • Bowlers Wanted for Faculty and Staff Bowling League
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By News Staff
  • Lender Center New York Event Gathers Wealth Gap Experts
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Diane Stirling

More In Arts & Culture

How New Words Enter Our Language: A Linguistics Expert Explains

From “yeet” to “social distancing,” new words and phrases constantly emerge and evolve in American English. But how do these neologisms—newly coined terms—gain acceptance and become part of mainstream dialect? We interviewed Christopher Green, associate professor of linguistics in the…

Art Museum Acquires Indian Scrolls Gifted by SUNY Professor

The University Art Museum has received a monumental gift of more than 80 traditional Indian patachitra scrolls, significantly expanding its collection of South Asian art and material culture. The scrolls were donated by Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita at…

Architecture Students’ Project Selected for Royal Academy Exhibition

In a prestigious international honor, a project by three students from the School of Architecture has been selected for inclusion in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025, currently on view in London. The work, titled “Evolving an Urban Ecology,” was…

Vintage Over Digital: Alumnus Dan Cohen’s Voyager CD Bag Merges Music and Fashion

Bucking the trend of streaming music platforms and contrary to what one might expect of a member of his generation, musician Dan Cohen ’25 prefers listening to his favorite artists on compact disc (CD) and record players. His research and…

VPA Announces New Drama Department Chair

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) has appointed Eleanor Holdridge as the new chair of the Department of Drama effective July 1. Holdridge comes to Syracuse University from the Catholic University of America, where she served as professor…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.