Sean Anderson
Sean Anderson was born in New York to Jamaican parents and spent much of his adolescence living in Alphabet City, NY. As a result of witnessing first hand the negative impact poverty and violence can have in the lives of young people, he has devoted much of his life to educating and advocating for inner-city youth. He attended Xavier Prep High School and then from there went on to Howard University where he earned his BA in English. After graduating from Howard, he earned his MS from Queens College, SBL Certification from the College of St Rose and MFA from Brooklyn College. He is the recipient of the Howard University Trustee Award, the Himan Brown Award for Fiction and the North Country Fellowship for Writing. He earned honorary mention for the Ross Feld Literary Award. He has read his work at the Bowery Poetry Club, Small's Jazz Club, (where his work was so well received the owner gave free drinks to the entire club), Columbia University, Medgar Evers College and Howard University. He was honored as a Human of Henry Street Settlement for his writing and his youth advocacy work. He was a featured writer at The Center for Black Literature Poetry Celebration and has been published several times in the Killen's Review of Arts and Letters.
In addition to calling his book, Alphabet City Blues, a Break Out Hit, Book Reviewers have noted the following about his book:
"With the wonderful vignettes in Alphabet City Blues, Anderson seeks to rescue the world of his youth from the chic, exclusive, whitewashed oblivion that we euphemistically call gentrification. By turns tender and brutal, infuriating and funny, the poems have a breathless intensity, and the whole collection is infused with the nostalgia of a man who returns home after years of travel. There's a poem in here called A Japanese Zen Master, about a monk who creates a sort of urban rock garden with the materials he has on hand: bricks, stones, needles, and vials. I can think of no better analogy for what Anderson does with this book. The Alphabet City of his youth is Anderson's rock garden, and like a true Zen Master, he takes the good, the bad, and the worst and elevates it all to the level of art. The Lower East Side of his childhood may not exist anymore, but these poems manage to capture part of its soul." - Chumley
"Sean Anderson transported me to the streets of the LES and East Village before gentrification changed the landscape of my city. ‘Alphabet City Blues’ gives voice to the LES of the 80’s and 90’s the way ‘Down These Mean Streets’ did for Spanish Harlem in the 70’s . Beautifully written and highly recommended. It doesn’t disappoint." - Carla Bruce
"A rich from-the-hip recounting for all your senses. If you weren't there, now you will know what ABC was like then. Wonderful to read such a wise heartfelt collection. Read up and rise up." Matthew Trushell
