When senior Zaid Akhtar asked Hanif Abdurraqib how he knows when a poem is ready to go out into the world, the award-winning poet, essayist, and music critic didn’t talk about craft.

“He told me to get out of this productive mode of trying to churn something out and instead focus on what things matter to me – the themes I’m continuously going to return to,” said Akhtar, who is double majoring in computer science and history. “I think it’s because he wants writers to know that what makes a good poet is the process, and all of the personal work that comes before the public-facing stuff.”

Abdurraqib, the 2025-2026 Denning Visiting Artist, has spent time over the last seven months engaging with the Stanford community through a series of free, fully booked events, lectures, workshops, and meetings with faculty, staff, and students.

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As a self-taught poet who primarily came up through poetry slams and “doesn’t have much of a relationship with academia,” Abdurraqib says he was drawn to the residency at Stanford by the opportunity to build relationships with people whose work he admired and mentor undergraduate students.

“I talk to a lot of students who are interested in hearing from someone who has a different way of doing things, and who has real-world experience that is different from the one they’re told they can have,” said Abdurraqib, whose accolades include the MacArthur Fellowship, the Andrew Carnegie Medal, and the Windham-Campbell Prize. “And it’s clarifying for me to know what people’s anxieties, fears, and excitements are as they take to their own work.”

Co-hosted by Stanford Public Humanities and the Creative Writing Program, Abdurraqib’s residency has been infused with opportunities to engage with creative communities throughout Stanford and the Bay Area via poetry readings and discussions about music, culture, and craft.

“Hanif is a special artist and writer whose work spans genres in a way that’s panoramic,” said Natalie Jabbar, associate director of Stanford Public Humanities. “He has a distinct and inviting way of bringing people on a journey of reflection, and we’ve seen that come alive in all of his engagements, whether small or large.”

In the classroom, at the office, and on the stage

One of the first classes Abdurraqib sat in on during his residency was a fall quarter course on Contemporary Black Feminist Paths, taught by poet and Knight Family Professor of Creative Writing Aracelis Girmay.

“He spent the entire class period with us, gave feedback, and talked about best practices and struggles,” said Girmay, who Abdurraqib counts among his favorite living poets. “He met us with such regard for the poets we discussed, for the importance of this work, and of being in study together. It was an experience that neither I or the students will forget.”

Sam Sax, an ITALIC lecturer who invited Abdurraqib to host a lecture called “Why Call and Response,” said he appreciated how closely Abdurraqib interacted with students. “It’s really moving to see someone who’s as generous and interdisciplinary in his practice offer his time and care for young people on campus,” he said.

On the stage, Abdurraqib spoke to packed and lively crowds during conversations with members of the Stanford community and beyond about topics including art, survival and, the heart’s work for Stanford Public Humanities’ What Is a Public Intellectual Today series; musical touchstones across his life for an evening exploring Songs in the Key of Life; and Black poetics as part of But Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women's Film Festival.

Abdurraqib also connected with students in more intimate settings, including one-on-one office hours, a spring bouquet making and poetry workshop at the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm, and a farewell gathering of poetry and popsicles at the Institute for Diversity in the Arts’ Harmony House.

“My hope is that everything I do or create is for people,” Abdurraqib said. “I’m trying to do the grand work of articulating affection so that the stories of the people I love might live on beyond me.”