Biography
Ian Manuel (he/him) is a poet and creative nonfiction writer, born and raised in Tampa, Florida. Through his writing Manuel explores growing up in prison and solitary confinement, where he spent eighteen consecutive years of his life from ages fifteen to thirty-three.
Manuel is the author of the memoir My Time Will Come (Pantheon, 2022), which Kirkus Reviews calls a “vital, necessary eyewitness addition to debates about the mass incarceration epidemic in the U.S..” He has had his work published in Men’s Health, Psychology Today, and the New York Times.
Manuel has spoken and performed his poetry to a myriad of audiences at Carnegie Hall, The Public Theater, NYU Law, Florida State University, and Alabama University, among others. His poetry is part of syllabi at both Butler University and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and his poem “Uncried Tears” was featured in the best-selling book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
In 2017, Manuel was the first unpublished writer ever to be granted a MacDowell Fellowship. Manuel has earned fellowships from Art for Justice and MacDowell. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he works with youth to help them avoid incarceration.
