Hear two extraordinary poets read from and discuss their work while also exploring the topic of anthologizing Black poets. Cave Canem fellow Teri Cross Davis is the author of Haint (Gival Press, 2017) and a member of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective, which recently published the anthology Not Without Our Laughter: Poems of Humor, Joy & Sexuality (Mason Jar Press, 2017), praised by D Watkins as "brilliantly addictive." Poet, essayist and fiction writer Melissa Castillo Planas is editor of two anthologies, most recently ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets (Arte Público Press, 2017), noted by Booklist as "A welcome addition to the cornucopia of books sharing the poetic voices of the Americas." Elizabeth Bryant moderates. Free and open to the public. Refreshments served. Co-sponsored with The New School Creative Writing Program.
Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of Haint, published by Gival Press and winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. A Cave Canem fellow, she has been awarded residencies at Hedgebrook, the Soul Mountain Writer’s Retreat, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She is on the Advisory Council of Split This Rock (a biennial poetry festival in Washington DC), a semi-finalist judge for the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Out Loud and a member of the Black Ladies Brunch Collective. Her work has been published in many anthologies including: Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade, Growing Up Girl, Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC, Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees, The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks and Not Without Our Laughter: poems of joy, humor, and sexuality. Her work can be read in the following journals: ArLiJo, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Delaware Poetry Review, Fledging Rag, Gargoyle, Harvard Review, Kestrel, Little Patuxent Review, Natural Bridge, North American Review, MiPOesias, Mom Egg Review, Poet Lore, Poetry Ireland Review, Tin House, Torch, and Sligo Journal. She is the Poetry Coordinator for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. and lives in Maryland with her husband, poet Hayes Davis and their two children.
Melissa Castillo Planas is editor of the anthology, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets (Arte Público Press, 2017), co-editor of La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades (Ohio State University Press, 2016), the author of the poetry collection Coatlicue Eats the Apple (VerseSeven (Pulse), 2016), and co-author of the novel, Pure Bronx (Augustus Publishing, 2013). Her current book project, forthcoming with Rutgers University Press’ new Global Race and Media series, A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture, examines the creative worlds and cultural productions of Mexican migrants in New York City. Her short stories, articles, poetry and essays have been published in numerous collections such as Centering Borders: Explorations in South Asia and Latin America (Worldview, 2017), Afro-Latinos in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas (Palgrave, 2016), The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Popular Culture (Routledge, 2016); and diverse scholarly and media publications. Castillo Planas completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History where she taught courses in Latinx Cultural Studies and organized the first ever Latinx Poetry Reading and Workshop Series.