Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Rowan Ricardo Phillips (born 1974 in New York City) is an American poet, writer, editor, and translator. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Stony Brook University, the poetry editor of The New Republic, and the editor of Princeton University Press' Princeton Series of Contemporary Poetry. He is President of the Board of the New York Institute for the Humanities.
Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Alaindestine · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips
- Born
- 1974
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, US
- Occupation
- Poet Writer
- Education
- * Swarthmore College (BA)
- Nationality
- United States
- Honours
- Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards · Guggenheim Fellowship
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Rowan Ricardo Phillips (born 1974 in New York City) is an American poet, writer, editor, and translator. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Stony Brook University, the poetry editor of The New Republic, and the editor of Princeton University Press' Princeton Series of Contemporary Poetry. He is President of the Board of the New York Institute for the Humanities.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Rowan Ricardo Phillips (born 1974) is a poet, of American nationality. The poet was born in New York City. Rowan Ricardo Phillips was educated at Brown University and Swarthmore College. Honours include Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and Guggenheim Fellowship.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Rowan Ricardo Phillips. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- unresolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q18098755 · wikipedia · Rowan Ricardo Phillips
In this article
Biography
Biography
He is the author of the poetry collections The Ground (2012), Heaven (2015), and Living Weapon (2020), the non-fiction books When Blackness Rhymes with Blackness and The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey, and a translation from the Catalan of Salvador Espriu's short-story collection Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Rowan Ricardo Phillips • Born — 1974 • Birthplace — New York, New York, US • Occupation — Poet Writer • Education — * Swarthmore College (BA) • Brown University (PhD) • Genre — Poetry · Sportswriting · Nonfiction · Essay · Literary Criticism · Translation · Screenwriting • Employer — Stony Brook University • Website — rowanricardophillips.com
Life
Life
Phillips was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. His parents are from Antigua and Barbuda. He graduated from Hunter College High School, then earned his bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and his doctorate in English Literature from Brown University. He is a Professor of English at Stony Brook University. He has previously taught at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Williams, NYU, and Baruch College. Phillips is President of the Board of the New York Institute for the Humanities. He is also a member of the Board of Aspen Words. He divides his time between New York and Barcelona with his wife and two daughters. He is a supporter, and club member, of FC Barcelona.
Poetry
Poetry
Phillips's first three books of poems––The Ground, Heaven, and Living Weapon ––can be read as a poetry trilogy. The poet Henri Cole stated: "Like all good poets, Rowan Ricardo Phillips writes from a zone of his own creation, mixing the traditions of his West Indian ancestry with American poetry. He is a hopeful poet, a rising star." Poet and scholar Evie Shockley wrote of The Ground that Phillips's poems "carry the authoritative descriptions and rhythms of Walcott, the philosophical and symbolic flights of Stevens, the subtle humor and cosmopolitanism of Dove, but in a language whose musical blend of the contemporary and the timeless is all Phillips's own. In a 2021 review of Living Weapon for The Guardian, David Wheatley writes that "Phillips's determination to push beyond irony into affirmation is an audacious gesture". Phillips is the author of a book of literary criticism on African-American poetry, When Blackness Rhymes with Blackness (2010), and a translation from the Catalan of Salvador Espriu's story collection Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth (2012). Phillips' fourth poetry collection, Silver, was published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States and was longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry.
Sportswriting
Sportswriting
Phillips has contributed sportswriting on tennis, soccer, basketball, and baseball. in a number of magazines. About his book The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey, the novelist John Green wrote, "Phillips writes with such fluidity, and packs the book with bursts of brilliance." The book follows the 2017 men's ATP Tour, featuring players Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, David Goffin, and Albert Ramos Viñolas. Phillips wrote a screenplay for a biopic of baseball icon Roberto Clemente adapted from the David Maraniss biography Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. As of 2018, the film was planned to be directed by Ezra Edelman. Phillips is also a consultant for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, where he is part of the curatorial team working on a new exhibit called "Souls of the Game", which focuses on the history of Black baseball. Phillips is currently writing a book about Black baseball entitled I Just Want Them to Remember Me: Black Baseball in America, which will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Poetry contributions
Poetry contributions
• "Violins." African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song, edited by Kevin Young. Library of America. 2020..
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
• The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2018..
Translation
Translation
*
Criticism
*
Poetry collections
* * • Living Weapon: Poems. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2020.. • Silver. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2024.
Awards
Phillips has been the recipient of a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Nicolás Guillén Outstanding Book Prize. He won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry in 2013 and the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting in 2019.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The New Republic.
- 2.Contemporary Poets. press.princeton.edu.
- 3.Board. NEW YORK INSTITUTE FOR THE HUMANITIES.
- 4.McHenry, Eric. Poetry Chronicle (Published 2013). The New York Times. 2013-01-25. 0362-4331.
- 5.Heaven. National Book Foundation.
- 6.Poetry Book Review: Living Weapon by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23 (96p) ISBN 978-0-374-19199-3. PublishersWeekly.com.
- 7.When Blackness Rhymes With Blackness Dalkey Archive Press.
- 8.Lawrence, Andrew. A Book That Honors an Underrated Sport. The Atlantic. 2018-12-10.
- 9.Dillman, Lisa. Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth by Salvador Espriu. Translation Review. 87. 1. 108–110. 2013-09-02. 0737-4836.
- 10.The Antiguans. Work in Progress. 2019-04-26.
- 11.Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Poetry Foundation. 2020-11-16.
- 12.Rowan Ricardo Phillips English Department. www.stonybrook.edu.
- 13.Visiting Professor of Creative Writing. Lewis Center for the Arts.
- 14.Africana Studies. africana-studies.williams.edu.
- 15.Fellows O-Z. New York Institute for the Humanities.
- 16.Board of Trustees. Aspen Words.
- 17.Rowan Ricardo Phillips – Blue Flower Arts.
- 18.McGovern, Jack. 'The ball's not bouncing but the game's on': Professor Rowan Ricardo Phillips on sports, politics and writing. The Williams Record. November 4, 2020.
- 19.Brewbaker, Will. "Stronger Than Steel": On Rowan Ricardo Phillips's "Living Weapon". Los Angeles Review of Books. 16 April 2020.
- 20.Rowan Ricardo Phillips - 92Y, New York. www.92y.org.
- 21.Academy of American Poets. About Rowan Ricardo Phillips Academy of American Poets. poets.org.
- 22.Wheatley, David. The best recent poetry – review roundup. The Guardian. 2021-02-05.
- 23.Rowan Ricardo Phillips. The On Being Project.
- 24.The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist. The New Yorker. 12 September 2024.
- 25.Phillips, Rowan Ricardo. The End of the Tour: Tennis Stars in Twilight. The Paris Review. 2017-10-30.
- 26.Phillips, Rowan Ricardo. They Think They Know You, Lionel Messi. The Paris Review. 2019-02-26.
- 27.Phillips, Rowan Ricardo. Kings. The Paris Review. 2016-02-05.
- 28.Phillips, Rowan Ricardo. Looking Back on Baseball's Silent Season. The New York Times. 2020-10-28. 0362-4331.
- 29.Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Friends of the Key West Library.
- 30.Kroll, Justin. 'O.J.: Made in America' Director Boards Roberto Clemente Biopic (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. 2018-02-05.
- 31.The Souls of the Game Exhibit Will Celebrate Black Baseball and How It Shaped America Baseball Hall of Fame. baseballhall.org. June 19, 2023.
- 32.Rowan Ricardo Phillips. www.whiting.org.
- 33.John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Rowan Ricardo Phillips.
- 34.Heaven. Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
- 35.Nicholas Guillen Award. www.caribbeanphilosophicalassociation.org.
- 36.Poetry Foundation. PEN America Awards Announced, Rowan Ricardo Phillips Wins in Poetry by Harriet Staff. 2020-11-16.
- 37.Rowan Ricardo Phillips Honored for Best Literary Sports Writing Stony Brook Matters. news.stonybrook.edu. March 5, 2019.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 31 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,991 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Roswell George MillsAuthor
- Rouben MelikAuthor
- Rouget de LisleAuthor
- Roussan CamilleAuthor
- Rowan WilliamsAuthor
- Rowena BaliAuthor
- Roxana PintoAuthor
- Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Rowan Ricardo Phillips?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.