Meet Kweku John
Visiting Assistant Professor, English and Writing
Phone: (813) 257-3309
Email: njohn@ut.edu
Address: 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33606
Mailbox: R
Building:
PH
Room: 238
Education
2019 The University of Virginia, B.A.
2021 The University of Michigan, MFA
Courses Taught
Academic Writing: Reading Locally and Globally
Introduction to Creative Writing
Poetry Writing I
Career Specialties
Kweku John specializes in Pan-African diasporic studies, decolonial literature and indigenous West African poetry.
Professional and Community Activities
John has published book reviews, short fiction and a poetry collection. His scholarship largely centers on the funeral dirges of Ghana’s Akan people and the poetics of Ghanaian naming ceremonies. John’s most recent work interrogates the legacies of traditional Yoruba praise poetry and drum language on contemporary West African Afrobeats linguistics.
John's debut collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm, was selected by Tyehimba Jess to win the 2022 Academy of American Poets First Book Prize. The manuscript was published by Graywolf Press in April of 2023.
Honors and Awards
Furious Flower Poetry Prize, 2020
Hopwood Award for Literary Excellence, University of Michigan, 2021
Academy of American Poets First Book Award, 2022