Black Arts and Culture

VSU Professor Nominated For 2026 Pulitzer Prize

Virginia State University professor and author Dr. Latorial Faison has been nominated for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for her book Nursery Rhymes in Black, a powerful reimagining of childhood rhymes through the lens of Black history and personal experience.
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By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Dr. Latorial Faison, an assistant professor and department chair at Virginia State University has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Faison, the author of more than 16 books, has been nominated for her new book, Nursery Rhymes in Black. Faison was nominated by the University of Alaska Press, which published the book after it was named the winner of the 2023 Permafrost Poetry Book Prize. The book was released on July 15, 2025. The winners are expected to be announced in early May 2026.

“It’s an honor to have my new book, Nursery Rhymes in Black, nominated for the Pulitzer,” Dr. Faison, who is a Virginia State graduate, said in a recent statement on the school’s website.

“This collection is deeply tied to the heart and history of who I am as a Black woman in America. I am grateful to trailblazers like Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, and Nikki Giovanni, whose voices carved the path, kept the light on, and made this moment possible.”

Born and raised in Courtland, Va., Faison is the chair of the department of Languages and Literature at Virginia State.

Her book blends tradition, memory, and resistance. It reimagines familiar childhood rhymes through the lens of Black history and her personal experiences.

The book has received acclaim from some of the most esteemed voices in literature, including Dr. Joanne Gabbin, founder of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, as well as Judy Juanita, Glenis Redmond, Trudier Harris, and Cedric Tillman, who praised Dr. Faison’s work for its powerful and nuanced portrayal of Black life and family.

Her books include Mother to Son, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, and The Missed Education of the Negro: An Examination of the Black Segregated Education Experience of Southampton County, 1950-1970.

Her portfolio is extensive. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Obsidian, Artemis Journal, Southern Poetry Anthology, Southern Women’s Review, and Deep South Magazine.

Newspaper Publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave money in his will to Columbia University to launch a journalism school and establish the Pulitzer Prize. It allocated $250,000 to the prize and scholarships. He specified “four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one in education, and four traveling scholarships. About six years after his death in 1911, the first awards were distributed on June 4, 1917.