As the academic semester comes to an end, Project HBW gives many thanks to all of our contributors and followers. Please continue spreading the word about Project HBW. If you would like to contribute to the blog, you can find the guidelines at Calling All Writers: Project HBW Wants You!.

Michael S. Harper passed away earlier this week. Harper was the first poet laureate of Rhode Island and was known for the incorporation of jazz elements into his poetry. Learn more at HBW’s tribute to Michael S. Harper.

Jaswinder Bolinda wrote about the expression of race through poetry and the poetics of Donald Trump. Learn more at Color Coded: On the poetics of Donald Trump, the progress of poetry, and reverse racism.

Kyla Marshell of the Poetry Foundation interviewed Tyehimba Jess on his newest book Olio (2016). “In an intricate assemblage of history, fiction, and poetic form,” Marshell writes “Jess brings to life Scott Joplin, Blind Tom, the McKoy twins, Sissieretta Jones, and others, black musicians of the 19th century who were legends of their time yet never recorded.” Learn more at Voicing Counterpoint: Tyhimba Jess brings 19th-century black musicians back to life.

In her poem “PWI Ten Commandments,” Kwyn Townsend Riley speaks about the difficulties that black women face at predominately white institutions. Read more at Poet Perfectly Explains The Struggles Black Women Face At PWIs.

Elizabeth Lund of The Washington Post revisits the work of Rita Dove in her newest book, Collected Poems: 1974-2004, and reminds us why Rita Dove has been one of the greatest and most influential literary figures in the US. Dove’s collection will be available through Amazon beginning May 17th.