News
This review explores Gene Andrew Jarrett's biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar, delving into Dunbar's struggle with the public's demand for dialect poetry and its pivotal influence on the evolution of African American poetry.
TLS (Times Literary Supplement): By Douglas A. Jones, Jr
June 2, 2023
Gene Jarrett's speech at the Toni Morrison U.S. postage stamp dedication ceremony pays tribute to his former professor and lauded novelist. It emphasizes the significance of her image on a U.S. stamp as a milestone in acknowledging diverse contributions to American culture. Watch the dedication ceremony.
Princeton University: By Gene Jarrett
March 8, 2023
The Dunbar Hotel is a cultural landmark of Black heritage in Los Angeles, though it didn’t always bear the name of writer Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Los Angeles Review of Books: By Vesper North
November 17, 2022
Book Riot lists Gene Andrew Jarrett's new book, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird, as one of their best biographies of 2022.
Book Riot: By Summer Loomis
November 10, 2022
The American magazine reviews Gene Andrew Jarrett's new book, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. Download their latest copy. You can find the book review on page 34.
The American
November Issue
The New Yorker editors and critics recommend the most captivating, notable, brilliant, thought-provoking, and talked-about books each week. Now, as 2022 ends, they have chosen a dozen essential reads in nonfiction and a dozen, too, in fiction and poetry. Gene Andrew Jarrett's Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird has made that list.
The New Yorker
October 26, 2022
Gene Andrew Jarrett details the celebrations and struggles of the “poet laureate of his race.”
Princeton Alumni Weekly
October 2022
Peter Jones from Cool Cleveland reviews Gene Andrew Jarrett's new book, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird.
Cool Cleveland: By Peter Lawson Jones
August 22, 2022
In “Paul Laurence Dunbar,” Jarrett, dean of the faculty and professor of English at Princeton University, provides the first full-scale biography of “the poet laureate of his race” in many decades.
Florida Courier: By Dr. Glenn Altschuler
August 16, 2022
Paul Laurence Dunbar was perhaps the pre-eminent Black poet of the era after Reconstruction. In a new biography, the Princeton University English professor Gene Andrew Jarrett takes Dunbar’s rather glum, shortish life and pulls off a book that pulls you along like an open bag of potato chips; for the first 100 or so pages, I could barely put it down.
The New York Times: By John McWhorter
August 12, 2022
Looking for some reading inspiration? Here’s a peek at what KCLS staff and the young readers in their lives are digging into this month!
Seattle’s Child: By Rekha Kuver
August 10, 2022
The New Yorker magazine ranks Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird as one of their must-reads.
The New Yorker
July 25, 2022
The great poet Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the few figures in literary history who’s best known for someone else quoting his own work.
Smoke Signals News: By T. Lopresti
July 6, 2022
Politico magazine ranks Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird as one of their top summer reads.
Politico
July 1, 2022
This month marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Americans across the country — from his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, to the numerous places where high schools bear his name — will celebrate this African American as a prodigy of his time, rivaled by few ever since.
The Washington Post: By Gene Andrew Jarrett
June 30, 2022
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Black American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and this new biography does a thorough and compelling job in telling the story of a remarkable and partially tragic life.
The Art Fuse: By David Mehegan
June 29, 2022
Paul Laurence Dunbar, a prodigious black poet, and Orville Wright, a precocious white inventor, became entrepreneurial partners in a short-lived newspaper circulated in Dayton, Ohio, called the Dayton Tattler. As classmates in Central High School, Paul and Orville respected each other as collaborators who could launch the periodical close to Christmastime in 1890.
Literary Hub: By Gene Andrew Jarrett
June 27, 2022
Gene Jarrett, Princeton’s dean of the faculty and the William S. Tod Professor of English, has taught students about Paul Laurence Dunbar for two decades and published book articles and chapters on the popular and accomplished writer. But it wasn’t until 2008 that Jarrett decided to tackle a biography of Dunbar, who rose to prominence in the Gilded Age.
Office of Communications: By Jamie Saxon
June 27, 2022
Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the current economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news.
In this episode, Andrew is joined by Gene Andrew Jarrett, author of Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Lift and Times of a Caged Bird.
Keen On: Hosted by Andrew Keen
June 13, 2022
The book: Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird (Princeton University Press), by Dean of the Faculty and professor of English Gene Andrew Jarrett ’97, was published this month to honor the 150th birthday of this Black poet, a pivotal figure in American literature. Jarrett offers the first full-scale biography of Dunbar, born during Reconstruction to formerly enslaved parents. This detailed account celebrates Dunbar and his impact on poetry and American literary history.
Princeton Alumni Weekly: By Carlett Spike
June 2022
A selection of books was published in this week's New York Times, plus a peek a what the newsroom is reading.
The New York Times
June 8, 2022
“The result is a fascinating exploration of Black creativity wrestling with social constraints and personal failings.”
Publishers Weekly
June 2022
New York magazine's Vulture has ranked Gene Andrew Jarrett's newly published book Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird as #5 on their list of books we can't wait to read this summer.
Vulture: Contributions by Maddie Crum, Derek Guy, Hillary Kelly, Jordan Taliha McDonald, Rina Nkulu, Mary Retta, and Omari Weekes
May 27, 2022
“Jarrett offers astute readings of all of Dunbar’s works and a perceptive examination of his fraught courtship, engagement, and marriage to Alice Moore, which was threatened by Dunbar’s “weakness for drink” and philandering.”
Kirkus
April 15, 2022
Essence magazine has ranked Gene Andrew Jarrett's newly published book Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird as #54 on their list of new books we can't wait to read.
Essence: By Keyaira Boone
February 8, 2022
Gene Andrew Jarrett, the Seryl Kushner Dean of the College of Arts and Science (CAS) and Professor of English at New York University, will become Princeton’s next dean of the faculty.
Princeton University: By Emily Aronson
May 27, 2021
From George Eliot and the Brontës to JK Rowling, women writers have often chosen to publish their work using a pseudonym. It’s time to smash the myths about why they do it. Gene Andrew Jarrett is quoted in this article.
BBC News: By Holly Williams
September 3, 2020
When College of Arts and Science Seryl Kushner Dean Gene Jarrett started his job at NYU last September, he wasn’t simply moving to New York City for a job — he was returning home.
Washington Square News: By Natasha Roy
March 19, 2018
Washington Square News sat down with Jarrett during just his second week on the job to discuss what deans do on a day-to-day basis, diversity at NYU, and what it was like growing up in New York City.
Washington Square News: By Sayer Devlin
September 25, 2017