Close Modal
Penguin Random House, author portrait placeholder image

Crystal Wilkinson

Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate from 2021 to 2023, is the award-winning author of Perfect Black; The Birds of Opulence; Water Street; and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, an O. Henry Prize, a USA Artists Fellowship, and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. She has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Hermitage Foundation, and others. Her short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky in the creative writing MFA program.
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

Books

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

Reflect and Rejoice during Black History Month!

For the month of February and beyond, join us in celebrating Black excellence in all its forms! Whether you want to read up on pivotal Black changemakers who have and who continue to fight for freedom and justice; share Black heroes like Simone Biles, Harriet Tubman, or Rosetta Tharpe with young readers; or celebrate the

Read more

Staff Picks + Upcoming Titles: January

January is the perfect time to reset, refresh, and engage in some self-transformation. Fix your finances with TikTok star Madeline Pendleton in I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. Kick sugar to the curb with Zero Sugar / One Month. And children can learn how to express gratitude and harness the

Read more