National Book Award Finalists Announced!

Terrance Hayes featured in issue 30.1 in the Funk Feature was named a 2010 National Book Award Finalist for his book Lighthead 


In his fourth collection, Terrance Hayes investigates how we construct experience. With one foot firmly grounded in the everyday and the other hovering in the air, his poems braid dream and reality into a poetry that is both dark and buoyant. Cultural icons as diverse as Fela Kuti, Harriet Tubman, and Wallace Stevens appear with meditations on desire and history. We see Hayes testing the line between story and song in a series of stunning poems inspired by the Pecha Kucha, a Japanese presenta­tion format. This innovative collection presents the light- headedness of a mind trying to pull against gravity and time. Fueled by an imagination that enlightens, delights, and ignites, Lighthead leaves us illuminated and scorched.

Check out all the finalist here.  Or order a back issue of the Funky 30.1 to get a taste of Terrance Hayes and other fine writers.