{{short description|American writer}} {{distinguish|Adam Faulkner (disambiguation){{!}}Adam Faulkner}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Adam Falkner | image = AdamFalkner-byPhilipRomano.jpg | alt = | caption = Falkner in 2026 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Writer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''The Willies'' }} '''Adam Falkner''' is an American writer, poet, artist, and educator.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/pop-up-poets/|title=On the Train, or at the Laundromat, Your Poem Begins … Now|last=Malesevic|first=Dusica Sue|date=2013-04-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

Falkner is a Pushcart Prize nominee. His work has appeared in ''The New York Times'', and he has been a featured performer at President Barack Obama's Grassroots Ball at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.<ref name=":0"/>

==Education== Falkner is from Ann Arbor,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ecurrent.com/arts-culture/a-new-era-for-ann-arbor-youth-writers/|title=A New Era for Ann Arbor Youth Writers|last=Zick|first=Anthony|date=August 1, 2017|publisher=Current|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate student.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://igr.umich.edu/article/alumni-spotlight-adam-falkner|title=Alumni Spotlight: Adam Falkner |publisher=University of Michigan|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> He holds a MA in English from Brooklyn College, and a PhD in English & Education from Columbia University.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2020/02/new-in-february-2/|title=New in February: Brandon Taylor, R. Eric Thomas, and Lidia Yuknavitch|last=Shrayfer|first=Lilia|date=February 5, 2020|publisher=Lambda Literary|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Career== Falkner's writing and work focus on intersectional themes of race, gender, queer life and social justice education.

===Writing=== Falkner's book, ''The Willies'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://buttonpoetry.com/product/the-willies/|title=The Willies|last=Falkner|first=Adam|publisher=Button Poetry|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> is a portrait of the "journey into queerhood" in America.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thrushpoetryjournal.com/awards.html|title=Best New Poets 2020 Nominations|date=2020|publisher=Thrush Poetry Journal|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> The book has received praise from National Book Award-winning author Andrew Solomon, and from writers and critics Saeed Jones, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Patricia Smith for its “vulnerability, determination, lyricism and incisiveness.” ''The Willies'' was the winner of the Midwestern Independent Book Award and the Foreword Reviews Gold Medal prize.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/rhode-island/providence/calendar/event/20200318/776838/adam-falkner-poetry-performance|title=Adam Falkner: Poetry Performance|last=Fuentes|first=Janet|date=Mar 18, 2020|publisher=Patch|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.them.us/story/read-me-adam-falker-the-willies|title=Adam Falkner Confronts Queer Shame, and His Father's Alcoholism, in The Willies|last=Goodman|first=Elyssa|date=February 6, 2020|publisher=them.us|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

Falkner has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His work also has appeared in ''The New York Times'' and on TED, and he was a featured performer at President Barack Obama's Grassroots Ball at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.bluestoop.org/events/2020/2/4/porsha-olayiwola-in-conversation-w-adam-faulkner|title=Philly Writers|last=Olayiwola|first=Porsha|date=2020-02-04|publisher=Bluestoop|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Educational leadership=== Prior to pursuing doctoral study at Columbia University's Teachers College, Falkner taught high school English in New York City's public schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/mount-pleasant-library-to-host-award-winning-poet-falkner-for-night-of-perf|title=Mount Pleasant Library to Host Award-Winning Poet Falkner for Night of Performance Poetry|date=February 19, 2020|publisher=golocalprov.com|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> He founded the Dialogue Arts Project,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://crescendowork.com/workplace-inclusion-blog/2020/1/28/welcoming-dr-adam-falkner|title=Unlocking human connection in the workplace and beyond: Introducing Dr. Adam Falkner to the Crescendo Team|last=Chauhan|first=Anita|date=2020-01-28|publisher=Crescendo Work|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://tsf.njit.edu/2012/spring/faulkner.php|title=Performance, Poetry and the Dialogue Arts Project|date=2012|publisher=New Jersey Institute of Technology|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.carleton.edu/media_relations/press_releases/?story_id=1237093|title=Convocation profiles the Dialogue Arts Project, using creative writing and art to generate dialogue about social identity and difference|date=January 23, 2015|publisher=Carleton University|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.commonpodcast.com/home/2017/9/5/episode-36-dialogue-arts-project|title=Episode 36: Dialogue Arts Project|date=2017-09-05|publisher=Commonplace: Conversations with Poets (and Other People)|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> and is a national lecturer and consultant around themes of racial equity and culturally empowering education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelamron.com/posts/2019/11/22/cultivating-community-series-lecturer-invites-students-to-be-more-considerate-as-they-interact-with-other-people|title=Cultivating Community series lecturer invites students to be more considerate as they interact with other people|last=Gellmann|first=Elizabeth|date=2019-11-22|publisher=thelamron.com|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thefader.com/2017/10/11/rza-azealia-banks-bove-beats-rhymes|title=Watch the trailer for RZA's upcoming film starring Azealia Banks|last=Montgomery|first=Sarah Jasmine|date=2017-10-11|publisher=The Fader|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref> He has taught English Education and Sociology at Vassar College and Columbia University's Teachers College.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh_foqBkggs|title=How can writing change the world?|date=Oct 7, 2013|publisher=New Jersey Institute of Technology|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

===Scholarship and research=== Falkner is a scholar of critical English education. His research, initially under the direction of Dr. Ernest Morrell, examines performance and storytelling rituals in schools and companies as tools to cultivate (and measure impact around) dialogue pertaining to identity, culture and politics.

===Acting and others=== Falkner is also an actor and a musician. He has played supporting roles in several films, including ''Lionsgate's Love'', ''Beats & Rhymes'', which starred rappers Azealia Banks and Common.

==Personal life== Falkner is gay. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brooklynpoets.org/poet/patricia-smith/|title=Poet Of The Week: Patricia Smith|date=February 17, 2020|publisher=Brooklyn Poets|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Bibliography== ;Books *''The Willies''. Button Poetry, 2020

;Chapbooks *''Adoption''. Diode Editions, 2018 *''Ten For Faheem'', 2012

;Articles *''The Power of Touch''. The Guardian, 2020 *''Race and Voting Rights: The All-Too Familiar Battle for the Ballet''. PBS' World Channel, 2020

;Poems *''Love Me A Man Who Cries''. Catapult, 2020 *''The Year The Wu-Tang Drops''. THRUSH, 2017 *''Connor Everywhere But''. Painted Bride Quarterly, 2012

;Anthologized *''Resisting Arrest'', University of Georgia Press, 2018 *''The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop''. Haymarket Books, 2016 *''Uncommon Core: Contemporary Poems for Living and Learning''. Red Beard Press, 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/37449954|title=Uncommon Core: Contemporary Poems for Learning and Living |last=Falkner|first=Adam|access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.adamfalknerarts.com/}} *[https://buttonpoetry.com/product/the-willies/ ''The Willies'' at Button Poetry Press]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkner, Adam}} Category:Living people Category:American male poets Category:Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan Category:American gay writers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American poets Category:21st-century American male writers Category:American LGBTQ poets Category:LGBTQ people from Michigan Category:Gay poets