Abstract: Tyehimba Jess is one of the leading African American poets. He is the author of Olio (2016), winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and leadbelly (2005), winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. Jess now teaches at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. In January 2019, Zhang Dongying, lecturer and PhD candidate in American literature at Central China Normal University, had an interview via Skype with Professor Jess, not long after he attended the 7th International Conference of Chinese/American Poetry and Poetics (December 6-7, 2018) at Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China. This interview centers around Professor Jess’s poetry and poetics as well as his thinking on literary tradition and influence. Professor Jess not only talks about the themes and forms of his two collections, leadbelly and Olio, his artistic motivations and writing process, but also shares his views on the musicality of his poetry, on his multi-genre, interdisciplinary approach, on African American poetic tradition and poets of different generations, and on the role of poets today.

Key words: Tyehimba Jess, poetry, literary tradition, innovation, history