Alora Young Biography

Alora Young is a poet, actress, author, and activist from Nashville, Tennessee. Named the 2020-2021 Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States, she gained recognition for her debut memoir-in-verse, “Walking Gentry Home” (2022), which traces nine generations of her family’s history, from an enslaved ancestor in West Tennessee to her own coming-of-age as a Black woman. The book, informed by archival research and interviews, is a bestselling poetry collection of the 21st century. Young’s poetry, addressing race, gender, class, and social justice, has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Rattle, and she has performed on CNN, CBS, and TEDx stages. She founded AboveGround, a nonprofit promoting equity in Nashville schools through creative writing and Black history. A Presidential Scholar, YoungArts winner, and recipient of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, she also acts, notably in “The Requiem Boogie”.

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