About Cameron

Maybe if my blood were blue I’d have three hearts like you: one for forgiving, one for forgetting, one for moving on…
— from "To the Octopus" - The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water

Cameron Barnett is a poet and teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of the new collection, Murmur, from Autumn House Press, as well as The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water, winner of the Autumn House Press 2017 Rising Writer Contest and finalist for the 49th NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry. Cameron is a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School and Duquesne University, and he holds his MFA and MAT from the University of Pittsburgh. He currently is the 2022-2024 Emerging Black Writer in Residence for Chatham University’s MFA program. He is the winner of the 2019 Emerging Artist Award for the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards. Cameron’s work explores the complexity of race, place, and relationships for Black people in America. He teaches middle school English language arts and social studies at his alma mater.

  • Cameron Barnett is a Pittsburgh poet, teacher, and the Emerging Black Writer in Residence at Chatham University. He’s the author of Murmur and The Drowning Boy’s Guide to Water, both from Autumn House Press. His work explores the complexity of race, place, and relationships for Black people in America.

  • Cameron Barnett is a poet and teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Murmur and The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water, winner of the Autumn House Press 2017 Rising Writer Contest, and finalist for the 49th NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry. Cameron graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and received his BA in English from Duquesne University in 2011, where he was the recipient of the O'Donnell Award for Excellence in Poetry. He holds his MFA and MAT from the University of Pittsburgh; while there, he was poetry editor for Hot Metal Bridge Literary Magazine, co-coordinator of Pitt’s Speakeasy Reading Series. He currently serves as Board Chair for Write Pittsburgh and is the 2022-2023 Emerging Black Writer in Residence for Chatham University’s MFA program. Cameron’s poetry explores the complexity of race and the body for Black Americans today. He is the recipient of a 2019 Investing in Professional Artists Grant Program as well as the 2019 Emerging Artist Awardee for the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards, both co-sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments. He teaches middle school English language arts and social studies at his alma mater, Falk Laboratory School.