Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley

Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley was born to two True Temper wheelbarrow factory workers and belongs to the Onondaga Nation of Indigenous Americans in New York. He is the Affrilachian author of the collections Dēmos: An American Multitude (Milkweed, 2021), Colonize Me (Saturnalia, 2019), and Not Your Mama’s Melting Pot (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). These collections have won or been a finalist for over two dozen awards, including the Association for Asian American Studies Award for Outstanding Achievement, the International Latino Book Award, and the Library of Virginia Literary Award. He is recipient of fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Tickner Center, and Kundiman, among others. His recent work has been published in The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNEXT, Native Voices: Honoring Indigenous Poetry, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Oxford American, Poetry, & Tin House.

Kingsley is assistant professor of poetry and nonfiction in Old Dominion University’s MFA program.

In April 2021, Kingsley was a guest blogger for Harriet.