Mitchell L. H. Douglas is the author of dying in the scarecrow’s arms, \blak\ \al-fə bet\, winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award, and Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem, an NAACP Image Award nominee. He is a cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem graduate, and Associate Professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis.
The first round of events in support of Universal Corner include a book signing and off-site reading at the 2026 AWP conference in Baltimore and an appearance on Indianapolis station WISH-TV. Tour info will be updated here frequently as new dates become available.
Universal Corner, the new poetry collection by Mitchell L. H. Douglas, is available for pre-order. A sonic trip fueled by punk and Hip-Hop—the scenes and sounds that raised Douglas in his formative years as a poet—Universal Corner finds common ground in surprising places. Not only do the poems revel in the unexpected, Universal Corner features Douglas’ original cover art—a first for the Indianapolis-based writer and educator. Universal Corner will release March 3, 2026, from Persea Books. Pre-order today at Bookshop.org
Mitchell L. H. Douglas’ original collage Universal Corner has found new life at the Indianapolis International Airport. Photographed and enlarged to ten feet in height, the artwork is on temporary display in Terminal B of the airport through the support of the Indy Arts Council and the Indianapolis Airport Authority. Previously, the collage was featured in the Art From the Heartland exhibit at Indy Art Center in 2024.
Art From the Heartland, a juried exhibit at Indy Art Center in Indianapolis, includes two collages by Mitchell L. H. Douglas. The exhibit is the first time Douglas has participated in an in-person juried art show. He received Best in 2-D honors for a new work and shared a second collage, Aya (Angela/Fania), published in The Offing in 2023. The exhibit, juried by artist and curator Kyle Herrington, will be on display through August 4, 2024.
Mitchell L. H. Douglas with his collage Aya (Angela/Fania).at Indy Art Center.
The new issue of The Adroit Journal features two collages by Mitchell L. H Douglas, the first published artwork by the poet.
Inspired by his daughter (a multi-disciplinary artist) during the height of the pandemic, Douglas used days of isolation to find his way back to the visual art he put aside years ago to focus on poetry. The collages blend the poet’s love of comic books with representations of Black life in urban and rural settings.
Follow the link to see Douglas’s contribution in issue forty-three: https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-forty-three/mitchell-l-h-douglas
On Thursday, Feb. 5, the National Endowment for the Arts announced its Fiscal Year 2021 Creative Writing Fellowship recipients. Mitchell L. H. Douglas was one of 35 writers from across the nation selected to receive the $25,000 grant. The award helps writers “set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement.”
See the full list of recipients and learn more about the award here:
A new essay by Mitchell L. H. Douglas is live on Salon.com. “In the name of the movement: Black Lives Matter Plaza, Breonna Taylor, and the long road to justice,” features Douglas’s photos and his account of a visit to the nation’s capital after protests for victims of police violence. Douglas reveals Breonna Taylor—who’s family has yet to see justice after her killing by Louisville police—was in the hearts and minds of protesters outside the White House. The essay, Douglas’s first published creative non-fiction piece, can be found at https://www.salon.com/2020/06/27/in-the-name-of-the-movement-black-lives-matter-plaza-breonna-taylor-and-the-long-road-to-justice/
photo by Mitchell L. H. Douglas
Poetry is many things: fist, balm—breath. In light of recent events, the Affrilachian Poets & our dear friends decided tonight was not the right time for the Bourbon & Poetry Festival. We will let you know when it’s rescheduled. In the meantime, donate to a bail fund or two. #BlackLivesMatter
The first Bourbon & Poetry Festival features Affrilachian Poets Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Asha French, Stephanie Pruitt, Bianca L. Spriggs, and Frank X Walker and special guests Nandi Comer, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Shauna Morgan, and Bro. Yao (Hoke S. Glover III). Join the celebration live at 7 p.m. EST, Monday June 1 on the Affrilachian Poets Facebook page.
The [Salvage/Selvage] issue of online literary journal Quarterly West went live on August 12 with three new poems by Mitchell L. H. Douglas. The poems, Douglas’s first since the publication of dying in the scarecrow’s arms in 2018, offer surprising allusions to beloved literary figures, adopt persona to magnify loss, and find a sobering perspective on the pursuit of fame and fortune. You can find the new issue at https://www.quarterlywest.com/salvage-selvage/douglas
The latest installment of the Poetry Society of America's "In Their Own Words," a popular series where authors share the stories behind a poem from their latest book, features Mitchell L. H. Douglas discussing the origin of the poem "O-H-I-O" from dying in the scarecrow's arms.
Indiana Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize nominee Adrian Matejka interviewed Mitchell L. H. Douglas about his methods for creating music in poetry. The conversation is an installment of Matejka's National Poetry Month series with Indiana authors for Indiana Humanities.
In a special National Poetry Month roundup, editors of The Rumpus include dying in the scarecrow's arms in the article "What to Read When You Want to Celebrate Poetry." The list features recent and forthcoming poetry collections.
Mitchell L. H. Douglas' dying in the scarecrow's arms is among six recent books of poems that “deliver truth with originality and grace” according to U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Smith recognizes Douglas’ work in the April 2018 issue of O: The Oprah Magazine. Author of the forthcoming poetry collection Wade in the Water, Smith won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for her third book, Life on Mars.
Douglas' dying in the scarecrow's arms is the first book discussed in the feature that celebrates National Poetry Month. Smith notes that the book-opening "Loosies," an elegy for Eric Garner, contains "a sense of violence and vulnerability that touches everything after." In the midst of these poems of survival, Smith says the book's five-part love poem "Persist" is "restorative" and succeeds in "turning even the routine into a daily astonishment."
In addition to Douglas, Smith reviews poetry collections by 2017 National Book Award nominees Shane McCrae (In the Language of My Captor) and Danez Smith (Don't Call Us Dead), Eve L. Ewing (Electric Arches), Khadijah Queen (I'm So Fine), and Nicole Sealey (Ordinary Beast).
The April 2018 issue of O is available at newsstands now.
Nimrod International Journal notes, "The beauty in this collection isn’t only found in the self and the voice, though—quite the contrary. Douglas celebrates the human body, and the work and personalities of countless poets, musicians, icons, and ordinary people."
Publishers Weekly: "This collection is well-worth dipping into to hear Douglas sing of America in all its vice and virtue. "