Phillip B. Williams, "Lift Every Voice" (Penguin, 2026)

Captivating for both its grandeur and intimacy, Lift Every Voice

(Penguin Books, 2026) explores the past’s capacity to be both a source

of dread and empowerment, an unshakable reminder of violence and an

indelible testament to the endurance of love. In virtuosic poems that

are wise, musical, richly layered, and saturated with vivid imagery,

Williams honors a mother “who knew seven ways to say bitch under her

breath,” a grandma whose smile “reflects the world,” and wonders at “the

impossible lift” of forgiveness. Lift Every Voice is a

staggering tribute to personal and collective evolutions, a vital chorus

that answers only to God, community, and the empowered self.

Phillip B. Williams is from Chicago, Illinois, and is the author of two collections of poetry: Thief in the Interior, which was the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and Mutiny,

which was a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection