Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts presents readings from University of Houston Creative Writing Program graduate students and contributors to its pages. The monthly Gulf Coast Reading Series supports the journal’s mission to spotlight the work of both esteemed and emerging writers with voices as diverse as the Gulf itself.

Hanif Abdurraqib is the author of The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (Button Poetry, 2016), which was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and elsewhere. His essays and music criticism have been published in Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio, 2017), was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. His next books are a biography of A Tribe Called Quest, Go Ahead In the Rain (University of Texas Press, 2019), and They Don’t Dance No’ Mo’ (Random House, 2020).

Above photo credit to Andrew Cenci.