Nathaniel Mackey

Nathaniel Mackey is an American poet, fiction writer, critic and editor whose work draws deeply on music, especially jazz, and on myth from many cultures. Born in Miami and raised in Southern California, he studied at Princeton University and earned a doctorate at Stanford University. He taught for many years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and later became the Reynolds Price Professor of Creative Writing at Duke University.

For decades Mackey has extended two long serial poems, Song of the Andoumboulou and Mu, across his collections, including Eroding Witness (1985), Whatsaid Serif (1998), Splay Anthem (2006), Nod House (2011) and Blue Fasa (2015). Splay Anthem won the 2006 National Book Award for Poetry. He has also written an ongoing prose series, From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate, which began with Bedouin Hornbook (1986), as well as critical books such as Discrepant Engagement (1993).

Mackey has long edited the literary magazine Hambone, and he served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2001 to 2007.