Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L. Browne was born in Oakland, California. She received an MFA in writing and activism from the Pratt Institute.

Browne is the author of several poetry collections and chapbooks, including Chrome Valley (W. W. Norton, 2023), winner of the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize; I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books, 2021); Kissing Caskets (YesYes Books, 2017); Smudge (Button Poetry, 2016); Redbone (Aquarius Press, 2015); and #Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out Online (Penmanship Books, 2010). She is also the author of the young adult and children’s books Vinyl Moon (Crown, 2022); Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice (Roaring Brook Press, 2020); Black Girl Magic (Roaring Brook Press, 2018); and Woke Baby (Roaring Brook Press, 2018). In addition, she is the editor of His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER (Penmanship Books, 2007).

Browne has received fellowships from the Arts for Justice Fund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, and Poets House, among other honors and awards.

Browne is the executive director of Bowery Poetry Club, artistic director of Urban Word NYC, and poetry coordinator at St. Francis College. She is also the founder of Woke Baby Book Fair and is completing her first book of essays on mass incarceration, investigating its impact on women and children. Browne is also the founder and publisher of Penmanship Books, which she created “as the answer to the performance poet’s publishing problem.” An award-winning performance poet, she is active in the spoken word community. She has released five LPs of her work and has served as the poetry program director and Friday Night Slam curator for the Nuyorican Poets Café. From July to September 2021, she served as Lincoln Center’s first ever poet in residence. Browne was the Guest Editor for a special series of Poem-a-Day from July 20 to July 31, 2020, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.