Philip S Bryant

Philip S. Bryant, a native of Chicago, is the author of four previous collections of poetry, Blue Island, Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day, Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: a jazz memoir in verse, with music by Carolyn Wilkins, and The Promised Land. is work has appeared in Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota; Good Poems, American Places, selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor; and Where One Voice Ends Another Begins: 150 Years of Minnesota Poetry. Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day was nominated for a Forward Prize and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in poetry. Selections from Stompin' at the Grand Terrace were chosen by Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers to appear in Best Music Writing, 2010. The Promised Land was a Silver Medal finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award given by the Independent Book Publishers Association. He was a fellow of the Minnesota State Arts Board in 1992 and 1998, and has served on the governing board of the Loft, the premier literary arts center in the Twin Cities. He has worked with the Givens Foundation as a mentor for emerging African American writers. He was a radio-essayist for Minnesota Public Radio, and is currently a professor emeritus at Gustavus Adolphus College. He lives with his wife, Renée, in St. Peter, Minnesota.