Poets & Writers Theater

“I write to ask questions and to inquire, not declare.” In this Virtual Craft Chat hosted by the Writer’s Center, poet Sarah Ghazal Ali reads from her debut collection, Theophanies (Alice James Books, 2024), and discusses her use of the ghazal form, the architecture of her book, and the inspirations she drew from the Qur’an in a conversation with Poet Lore editor Emily Holland.

“I pop tins of the greasiest luncheon meat open, / slather my chin with animal salt…” In this video, Ina Cariño, a 2022 Whiting Award winner in poetry, reads their poem “Lean Economy” from their debut collection, Feast (Alice James Books, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Dartmouth video celebrating Robert Frost’s birthday last March, Matthew Olzmann reads his poem “Letter to the person who, during the Q&A session after the reading, asked for career advice” from his latest collection, Constellation Route (Alice James Books, 2022), which is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“So how do you discern a shape for / What is often called g-d.” Kazim Ali reads from his latest collection, The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Alice James Books, 2020), in this Academy of American Poets virtual reading and conversation with Joshua Bennett, author of Owed (Penguin Poets, 2020). For more from these poets, read what motivates Ali’s writing in Writers Recommend and about Bennett’s writing process in Ten Questions.

“Child, we move through graves / like eels, delicious with our heads first, our mouths / agape.” In this Ours Poetica video, Jane Wong reads her poem “After Preparing the Altar, the Ghosts Feast Feverishly” published in the November 2018 issue of Poetry magazine. Wong’s second poetry collection, How to Not Be Afraid of Everything, is forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2021.

“Even a baby is / a paper cut theater, / a necklace of incisions strung together / into a country.” In this Poetry.LA video, Kenji C. Liu reads poems from his collections Map of an Onion (Inlandia Institute, 2016) and Monsters I Have Been (Alice James Books, 2019) at the Writers for Migrant Justice reading in Los Angeles.

“I do hope one day to be free of this body’s dry wood...” In this Button Poetry video, Kaveh Akbar, author of the poetry collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, 2017), reads a poem that was published in Tin House’s “The Rehab Issue” in 2017.

Phillip B. Williams discusses his use of “the grotesque” in his poetry, the relationship between poetry and the internet, and how to foster literary community at the Tufts poetry library at Claremont Graduate University. Williams is the winner of the 2017 Kate Tufts Discovery Award for his debut collection, Thief in the Interior (Alice James Books, 2016).

“There in the sky an atomized sun.” Sally Wen Mao, winner of the 2016 Amy Award, reads her poetry at Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, New York. Applications for the 2017 Amy Awards are now being accepted.

“All of us should apologize. We’ve promised so many beautiful things we can’t make good on.” Catherine Barnett, author of Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced (Alice James Books, 2016), reads her poem “Cursing Gets Us Nowhere.”

In this video for PBS NewsHour’s “Brief But Spectacular” series, Franny Choi reads her poem “Introduction to Quantum Theory” and discusses the importance of asking unanswerable questions and imagining alternate realities. Choi is the author of Floating, Brilliant, Gone (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014) and Soft Science, which is forthcoming from Alice James Books in April.

Kaveh Akbar reads two poems for “A Tribute to Max Ritvo,” an event presented by the Academy of American Poets, the Writing Program of Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Milkweed Editions, and the Poetry Society of America. Akbar is the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, 2017) and is featured in “The Whole Self: Our Thirteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The slit would talk back sweet nothing in a red gown.” Phillip B. Williams reads at the Missouri Review’s Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize Reading. Williams, author of Thief in the Interior (Alice James Books, 2016), is featured in “Shadows of Words: Our Twelfth Annual Look at Debut Poets” by Dana Isokawa in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"A storm and so a gift. / Its swift approach / lifts gravel from the road." Phillip B. Williams reads his poem "Speak," originally published in Poetry magazine in 2013. Williams's debut collection, Thief in the Interior (Alice James Books, 2016), is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"Hello, you careful seamstress, you needle in my sternum." In this video clip, award-winning poet Jamaal May reads “I Do Have a Seam" from Hum, his first collection of poems, which was published by Alice James Books in November.

Public television station KNPB's reporter Michael Hagerty interviews Brian Turner, an Iraq War veteran and author of the poetry collections Phantom Noise (2010) and Here, Bullet (2005), about his experience writing about the war.