W. J. Lofton

W.J. Lofton is a Black Queer Southern poet and multimodal artist. He is the author of boy maybe (Beacon Press, 2025) and A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust (published by the author, 2018). A recipient of Ava DuVernay’s LEAP Grant, Lofton is a Cave Canem graduate fellow and an Emory University Arts & Social Justice fellowship. His poetry, essays, and film work have appeared on the Academy of American Poets site and in American Poets Magazine, Obsidian, Scalawag, TIME, the books No Justice, No Peace and Prose to the People, and film festivals nationwide. Lofton’s constant concern is liberation and its lived manifestations—the personal, political, and collective. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where he co-curates Rebellion: A Writing Salon at For Keeps Books.