Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June, 2021. Michael's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Poem-a-Day, Poetry Northwest, Potomac Review, Rain Taxi, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Poetry City, North Dakota Quarterly, Pollen Midwest, Paper Darts, Water~Stone Review, Midway Review, and a few anthologies. Michael is a past Fellow with the Givens Foundation for African-America Literature, a past-winner of the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry, and the former Poet Laureate of Anoka County libraries. His work has been by the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation.