Night Watch
By (Author) Kevin Young
Vintage Publishing
Jonathan Cape Ltd
2nd December 2025
4th September 2025
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Modern and contemporary poetry / poems
Narrative theme: identity / belonging
Narrative theme: social issues / social problems
Narrative theme: sense of place
Paperback
176
Width 130mm, Height 198mm, Spine 8mm
100g
A haunting poetry collection about community, nationhood and resilience - from the T.S. Eliot Prize finalist 'One of the most important poets of his generation' Washington Post A richly evocative and moving collection about African American identity and history, this is an ode to home places and the dearly departed, and to what of them - of us - poetry can save. In bellowing declarations of suffering and whispered prayers of faith, Night Watch speaks to an inner history which is compelling and authentic and deeply American, rippling with timely and devastating truths about the insidious nature of the American nation. 'Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes' New York Times
Kevin Young is the director of Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and poetry editor of the New Yorker. He was previously the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He is the author of a number of books of poetry and prose, including Stones, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Jelly Roll- A Blues, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry; and Bunk, a New York Times Notable Book, longlisted for the National Book Award. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.