Fred L. Joiner

Fred L. Joiner is a poet and curator. He received an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University.

Joiner is the author of the poetry collection Mirror in Our Music (Birds, LLC, 2025). His work has otherwise been published in various journals and anthologies. He has received awards, fellowships, and residences from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and St Mary’s College of Maryland. In 2019, he was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.

Joiner is the founder of Black Ekphrastic, a website that seeks to highlight the work of Black creative writers and their engagements with various art forms. He is also the cofounder of The Center for Poetic Thought in Washington, D.C., and served as the poet laureate of the Town of Carrboro, North Carolina, in 2023. Joiner is currently on the board of directors for the Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation and the Orange County Arts Alliance.