HANIF ABDURRAQIB
THURSDAY 11/10. Staples Auditorium, Reves Recital Hall, Hendrix College, Conway. 7:30 p.m. Free.
If you visit the website of National Book Award finalist Hanif Abdurraqib, you’ll be greeted by a simple set of sentences written in all caps: “Hi. I’m Hanif. I write poems. I write things about music. I am probably eating french fries.” This bare declaration from the acclaimed poet and essayist is a surprisingly apt encapsulation of his deceptively modest, colloquial and generous approach to cultural criticism. His subjects need not seem initially profound because he’s capable of locating the profundity in anything. Even when he writes about a seemingly vapid pop star like Carly Rae Jepsen, he does it with the urgency of someone whose “life depend[s] on it,” as stated by the Guardian. Although Abdurraqib sincerely embodies a passion for popular culture, the guiding theme underneath all of his work is an unflinching curiosity toward what it means to be Black in America. In “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us,” a review of a Bruce Springsteen concert almost magically morphs into a meditation on police brutality. This devotion has culminated in his most recent book, “A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance,” which takes both a personal and horizon-wide perspective on the ways in which public moments of Black artistry have indelibly shaped American culture. Expect this reading and Q&A at Hendrix College to be attended by many bright and engaged undergraduate readers and writers who are eager to one day possibly follow in Abdurraqib’s footsteps.