Benjamin Naka-Hasebe Kingsley is an Indigenous American writer and poet. Benjamin belongs to the Onondaga Nation. [1] He is most recognized for his collections: Colonize Me (Saturnalia, 2019) and Not Your Mama’s Melting Pot (Backwaters Press, 2018). [2] He has also released another collection, Dēmos: An American Multitude (Milkweed Editions, 2021). [3]
Kingsley got his Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Pennsylvania.
Colonize Me is Kingsley's second poetry collection. [4] The poems in the collection are often based on his real experiences. [5] The collection won an Eric Hoffer Award. [6]
Dēmos: An American Multitude was released on March 7, 2021. [3] The collection features poems relating to Onondaga, Japanese, Cuban and Appalachian cultures. [3]
From 2019 until at least October 21, 2020, Kingsley worked as an Assistant Professor of English in the College of Arts and Letters at Old Dominion University. [7]
Kingsley grew up in Indiana, Pennsylvania. [8] His parents were both factory workers at a True Temper wheelbarrow factory. [1]
In August 2017, during the time which he was writing Dēmos, Kingsley claims that he was assaulted by a police officer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. [9] According to Kingsley, he was maced by a police officer without reason on the street at night. He then stumbled into oncoming traffic, before going to a local pizza shop, where patrons helped clear his eyes with water. [9]