Enzo Silon Surin is a Haitian-born award-winning poet, author, educator, publisher and social advocate. He has taught, performed, and lectured on topics such as social justice, the immigrant experience, racial disparities, and gives voice to experiences that take place in what he calls “broken spaces”. He is the author of American Scapegoat (Black Lawrence Press, 2023) and When My Body Was A Clinched Fist (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards. He is also the author of two chapbooks and co-editor of Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2022). In American Scapegoat, his second full-length collection of poetry, he interrogates the socio-political framework of a democracy at war with itself and its humanity.
Surin has been recognized and awarded support for his artistry and literary citizenship including by the New England Poetry Club and is the recipient of a Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation and a PEN New England Discovery Award. His poetry has been featured in numerous publications including by the Poetry Foundation and in Poem-a-Day by the Academy of American Poets and his librettos have been commissioned by the Boston Opera Collaborative and were adapted as part of a musical reimagining of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe song cycle. His short opera, “Last Train," debuted in January 2023 as part of a series of Opera Bites, eight 10-minute operas written by contemporary composers and librettists.
Surin currently serves as Founding Editor & Publisher at Central Square Press and Founder/Executive Director at the Faraday Publishing Company, Inc., a nonprofit literary services and social advocacy organization.
