Kweku Abimbola Wins 2022 First Book Award from Academy of American Poets

Mar 28, 2022

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess has selected Kweku Abimbola’s manuscript Saltwater Demands a Psalm as the recipient of the 2022 Academy of American Poets First Book Award. Abimbola’s manuscript will be published by Graywolf Press in April 2023.

In addition to publication, Abimbola will receive a six-week all-expenses-paid residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy, as well as $5,000. The Academy of American Poets will also purchase and distribute copies of the book to its members.

Born in the Gambia, Abimbola works as a teaching artist for the literary non-profit Inside Out Literary Arts. At Inside Out, he holds workshops in poetry and creative writing for middle school students in Detroit, where he currently lives.