Synopses & Reviews
2019 National Book Award Longlist
“With Build Yourself a Boat, Camonghne Felix heralds a thrillingly new form of storytelling.” Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro
This is about what grows through the wreckage. This is an anthem of survival and a look at what might come after. A view of what floats and what, ultimately, sustains.
Build Yourself a Boat redefines the language of collective and individual trauma through lyric and memory.
Review
“Build Yourself a Boat is one of the most soulful, genius pieces of art that has ever seen, felt and heard me. I tried to run away from these poems. They welcomed, understood and side-eyed my fear.” Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Review
“Centering on black, female identity, Camonghne Felix's Build Yourself a Boat is an exquisite and thoughtful collection that should be on everyone's TBR.” Bustle
Review
“Here is a voice that commands, insists, reiterates, and consumes — a voice that has earned its right to shout freely, with curiosity and aliveness and heart.” Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro
About the Author
Camonghne Felix, M.A. is a poet, political strategist, media junkie and cultural worker. She received an M.A. in Arts Politics from NYU, an MFA from Bard College, and has received Fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo and Poets House. The 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee is the author of the chapbook Yolk, and was recently listed by Black Youth Project as a "Black Girl From the Future You Should Know." Her first full-length collection of poems, Build Yourself a Boat, was a 2017 University of Wisconsin Press Brittingham & Pollak Prize finalist, and a 2017 Fordham University Poets Out Loud semi-finalist.