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In this virtual event sponsored by the University of Toronto and moderated by Ohla Khometa, contemporary Ukrainian poets Alex Averbuch, Daryna Gladun, Iya Kiva, Julia Musakovska, and Oksana Maksymchuk share their poems and discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the displacement and loss they’ve experienced.
Independence Day, colloquially known as the Fourth of July in the United States, is the annual celebration of nationhood commemorating the passage of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. For centuries, poets have offered deeply personal perspectives on what it means to celebrate their country, including Alicia Ostriker in her poem “The History of America,” in which she writes: “Murdering the buffalo, driving the laggard regiments, / The caring was a necessary myth…” and Naomi Shihab Nye in her poem “No Explosions,” in which she writes: “To enjoy / fireworks / you would have / to have lived / a different kind / of life.” This week write a poem reflecting on your relationship to nationhood. What contradictory feelings surface when you consider your citizenship? For further inspiration, check out the Poetry Foundation’s selection of poems for the Fourth of July.
For this RaceB4Race Symposium event sponsored by Arizona State University’s Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Jericho Brown reads from his Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, The Tradition (Copper Canyon Press, 2019), and Fred Moten reads from his collection The Feel Trio (Letter Machine Editions, 2014). The poets discuss everything from their earliest memories of reading poetry to Prince songs and Shakespeare in a conversation moderated by Ayanna Thompson.
The author of I Do Everything I’m Told considers the role of the breath in poetic composition.
Are you looking for a home for your debut poetry collection? Try submitting to the Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize from Conduit Books & Ephemera, which offers a prize of $1,500, publication, and 30 author copies of the book for the winning author.
Submit a manuscript of 48 to 90 pages with a $25 entry fee by July 7. Bob Hicok will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Conduit Books & Ephemera was founded in 2018 in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Conduit, a biannual literary journal of poetry and prose. Hicok sponsored the inaugural Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize, named after his grandmother-in-law, “a great supporter of young poets.” The annual prize goes to a poet writing in English who has yet to publish a full-length poetry collection. Those who submit are advised to familiarize themselves with Conduit, a magazine “which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity.” The press also offers the Minds on Fire Open Book Prize, open to any poet writing in English and judged by Conduit’s editorial board. Submissions for the Minds on Fire prize open August 1.
“I found myself writing from the perspective of the kid that I used to be, trying to figure out a basic question: Am I supposed to be here?” Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. talks about the difficulties he experienced as a gay teacher in Appalachia and what inspired his debut collection, Gay Poems for Red States (University of Kentucky Press, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, in this interview for WTVQ-TV in Lexington, Kentucky.
In his fourth poetry collection, Chariot (Wave Books, 2023), Timothy Donnelly uses form to contain the expansiveness of philosophical and artistic inquiry. Each poem is confined to twenty lines and uses long, syntactically complex sentences to connect seemingly disparate things: from the Milky Way to the polluted green color of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York, and the blue of periwinkles and rainclouds to the ordinariness of a Staples office supply store. Inspired by Donnelly’s use of form and connection, flip through a few books from your shelves and write down all the nouns you encounter. Then write a twenty-line poem that attempts to connect these words as seamlessly as possible using your unique perspective.
“I didn’t set out to write exactly this book.” —Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, author of Negative Money
Blip Roasters is a café in a sunny, brick urban building in Kansas City, Missouri, which hosts weekly open mic nights, writing workshops, and bike nights for motorcyclists. Their Poetry Underground series features seasonal showcases and an annual poetry slam, typically requiring a cover fee for entry. There is also a conference room available for booking offering a quiet environment with a conference table, Wi-Fi access, and tinted windows for privacy.
Community Bookstore is an independent bookstore that has served the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, since its establishment in 1971. They are known for their well-curated shelves, garden, and local bookstore cat. The store also hosts monthly events, including readings and panels.
