Mahogany L. Browne, a Kennedy Center Next 50 fellow and Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Awardee, is a writer, playwright, organizer, and educator. Browne received fellowships from ALL ARTS, Art for Justice, AIR Serenbe, Baldwin For The Arts, Carolyn Moore Writing Residency, Cave Canem, the Hawthornden Foundation, Poets House, the Mellon Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Wesleyan University, and Ucross Foundation. Browne’s books include Vinyl Moon; Chlorine Sky, which was optioned for Steppenwolf Theater; Black Girl Magic; and banned books Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice and Woke Baby. Founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke Baby Book Fair, Browne currently tours Chrome Valley, and is the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner. Browne holds an honorary doctor of philosophy degree awarded by Marymount Manhattan College, and is the inaugural poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center.

(Photo credit: Savannah Lauren)