Adedayo Agarau’s collection appears on the list alongside works by poets such as Janée J. Baugher, Robin Coste Lewis, and Mihret Kebede, among others.
By Abioye Damilare Samson
Nigerian poet Adedayo Agarau has been recognised by the New York Public Library, as his 2026 poetry collection, The Years of Blood, was selected as one of the 25 Best New Poetry Books of 2026.
In its citation, the New York Public Library described the collection as “a collected poetry of witness”, noting that the work offers Agarau’s account of childhood abductions from his home city of Ibadan. The poems, it added, are rooted in reportage and storytelling, and “vacillate between the perspective of observer and survivor”. Agarau’s collection appears on the list alongside works by poets such as Janée J. Baugher, Robin Coste Lewis, and Mihret Kebede, among others.
Adedayo Agarau is a poet and the Editor-in-Chief of Agbowó and a Poetry Reviews Editor for The Rumpus. He is the winner of the 2024 C.P. Cavafy Prize, a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and a Cave Canem Fellow. His works have appeared in publications such as Poetry Magazine, Poetry Society of America, and World Literature Today, among others.
According to the New York Public Library, its expert librarians and staff reviewed over 250 poetry books before arriving at the final 25 titles. The selected works, the institution noted, highlight poetry’s capacity to guide readers through a wide range of spiritual and physical experiences.
For the African literary space, this recognition further signals the growing global visibility of contemporary African poetry, as writers continue to document lived realities with urgency and craft, while finding resonance across international readerships and institutions.