Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is a prize-winning American poet.

Life
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Hayes earned his B.A. from Coker College and an M.F.A. from the University of Pittsburgh writing program. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, the poet Yona Harvey, and their children. His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Fence, The Kenyon Review, Jubilat Harvard Review, West Branch and Poetry.

Writing
In praising Hayes's work, Cornelius Eady has said: "First you'll marvel at his skill, his near-perfect pitch, his disarming humor, his brilliant turns of phrase. Then you'll notice the grace, the tenderness, the unblinking truth-telling just beneath his lines, the open and generous way he takes in our world."

Recognition
His recent poetry collection Lighthead (Penguin, 2010) won the National Book Award for Poetry. His second collection, Hip Logic (2002), won the National Poetry Series, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and runner-up for the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. His first book of poetry, Muscular Music (1999), won both the Whiting Writers Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award.

Awards

 * 2011 United States Artists Zell Fellow for Literature
 * 2010 National Book Award for Poetry, for Lighthead
 * Pushcart Prize, a Best American Poetry 2005 selection
 * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
 * 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship
 * James Laughlin Award runner-up, from the Academy of American Poets
 * Whiting Writers Award
 * Kate Tufts Discovery Award for Muscular Music (1999)
 * 2001 National Poetry Series, for Hip Logic

Poetry

 * Lighthead (Penguin Books, 2010)
 * Wind in a Box (Penguin Books, 2006)
 * Muscular Music(Tia Chucha Press, 1999; reissued by Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2006)
 * Muscular Music(Tia Chucha Press, 1999; reissued by Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2006)