Roxane Beth Johnson

Roxane Beth Johnson earned an MFA from San Francisco State University. She is the author of Black Crow Dress (2013) and Jubilee (2006), chosen by Philip Levine for the Philip Levine Prize in Poetry from Anhinga Press.

Of African American and Italian heritage, Johnson has said that her early literary influences were the Bible and church hymns; later influences include the poets Anne Sexton, Wallace Stevens, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Jubilee paints a devastating portrait of Johnson’s family and childhood, often employing child speakers to articulate unsayable truths. In awarding the prize, Philip Levine commented, “These luminous poems depict a world I never knew—or knew as a child and since forgot—and they do so with the authority of a totally mature voice. The artistry that unifies this collection is so perfect it is almost invisible. Altogether an amazing debut.”

Johnson has won an AWP Prize in Poetry and a Pushcart Prize. She has received scholarships/fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem, The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and San Francisco Arts Commission. She lives in San Francisco.