Camonghne Felix — Let the Poets Govern
Part memoir, part manifesto — Felix draws on Black radical literary traditions to reimagine freedom through creative and political refusal.
Why we picked this
Felix was the youngest campaign speechwriter in presidential history. Now she argues that poets, not politicians, hold the tools for real liberation.
Camonghne Felix blurs the line between memoir, manifesto, and literary criticism in a work that insists creative expression is itself a political act. Drawing on the Black radical literary tradition — from the Harlem Renaissance through contemporary spoken word — Felix argues that the imaginative capacities poets cultivate are precisely what governance lacks.
Felix’s own biography lends weight to the argument. She was the youngest campaign speechwriter in a modern presidential race, and her poetry collections have earned wide recognition. This book represents a departure from both genres, fusing personal narrative with intellectual history to ask what happens when creative minds take political power seriously.
In conversation with Brittany Packnett at Politics and Prose’s Union Market location. Free admission.