Jerriod Avant, who is completing his doctorate in English this semester, has spent the past year as a teaching fellow at Wesleyan University. A prize-winning poet as well as a dedicated teacher and mentor, Jerriod has held multiple literary residencies and published his poetry in some of the nation’s most prestigious literary journals. His first book, Muscadine, will be published this fall. His faculty advisor describes his poetry as “beautifully crafted, filled with powerful social and cultural resonances, and riveting at a sonic level.”