MARCUS AMAKER
LIBRETTIST
BIOGRAPHY
Marcus Amaker (he/him) takes daily naps and is a husband, a dad, a son, a musician, an opera librettist, and a Star Wars obsessive. He served as the first Poet Laureate of Charleston, South Carolina, from 2016-2022. In 2021, he became an Academy of American Poets fellow.
He’s also a prolific performer, the award-winning graphic designer of a roots music journal (No Depression), a musician, an opera librettist, the creator of a poetry festival, a teaching artist, and an advocate for youth poets.
His work has been recognized by The Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Kennedy Center, American Poets Magazine, Chicago Opera Theater, Garden & Gun, The Portland Opera, Button Poetry, NPR, The Chicago Tribune, Edutopia, Town & Country, PBS NewsHour, South Carolina Public Radio, Charleston Magazine, Charleston City Paper, Post and Courier, and more. In 2019, he received a Governor’s Arts award in South Carolina and was named the artist-in-residence of the Gaillard Center, a world-renowned performance and education venue. [read more...]
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard…” – Washington Post
Two Black Churches – “It’s absolutely devastating, and one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard all year — one that seems to authorize the contradictory emotions it captures and sets free.”
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"... with poetry and grace..." – The New Yorker
Two Black Churches – "Two Black Churches” (2020) crowns the album, recounting racially motivated massacres in Birmingham, In 1963, And In Charleston, in 2015, with poetry and grace.”
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"... a genuine, lyrical offering to our heart’s expansion..." – Andrea Gibson, world-renowned poet
The Birth of All Things – “Once, in 2001, I heard a poet read a poem that turned to music in the air. Two decades later Marcus Amaker’s gorgeous new book is that moment on repeat, with each turned page. A mixtape of presence, The Birth of All Things is a genuine, lyrical offering to our heart’s expansion. To write in celebration while refusing to ignore grief, is a skill few artists have mastered, but it is mastered here. I am so grateful for the bonfire of light this book has brought into my world.”