"I am Gay and Muslim" Documentary Screening
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/gay-and-muslim-documentary
April 8th, 3pm-4pm EST, Virtual, Free
Join us virtually, on Tuesday April 8th, for a screening of the documentary "I am Gay and Muslim." This film explores the complex intersectionality of sexual orientation and religious adherance within the Muslim queer population.
Sisters in Feminism: Poetry by Immigrant and Refugee Women
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/sisters-in-feminism-poetry
April 26th, 7pm-9pm EST, Virtual, $ Sliding Scale (from $10-$20)
Come join us on Zoom for “Sisters in Feminism: Poetry by Immigrant and Refugee Women,” the third annual National Poetry Month (NPM) event organized by the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets! We’ve pushed this year’s NPM theme of “family” beyond nuclear and state borders, choosing to recognize the global sisterhood that unites feminists in our struggle for liberation. Twelve such Sisters in Feminism, refugees or immigrants to Canada from around the world, will read for five minutes each. Most readers will perform in English. Performances in Ukrainian and Persian will be followed by complete English translations, read by the translators themselves.
Buy tickets on eventbrite today! A limited number are available at each price point: $10, $15, and $20. Please pay what you can. The money goes to the poets! To request a need-based free ticket, please email feministcaucus@leaguepoets.com
READER BIOS
FARAH AYAAD is a Palestinian-Canadian poet and spiritual activist blending poetry, self-help, and spirituality. She is the author of Coming Home, You Are The Sun, Love On Earth, Mañana, Doves & Olives, and Almost Home. Influenced by Rumi, Khalil Gibran, and Osho, her work empowers readers to become their bravest self.
PADMAJA BATTANI, originally from India, lives in Connecticut/Ottawa. She received an MA in English Literature. Her prose and poetry appeared in Sierra Poetry Festival, Trouvaille Review, New Pages, The Temz Review, Coffee People Magazine, Poetry Pause (League of Canadian Poets), CanLit Magazine and others. Her latest passion is hiking. She is currently working on a Poetry Collection.
ULIANA HLYNCHAK is a Toronto-based journalist, producer, and author. Uliana writes and translates poetry and short stories in Ukrainian and English. She works at the Ukrainian TV Network KONTAKT. She is on the Board of Directors at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation and volunteers for the Toronto Ukrainian Festival. Uliana came to Canada from Ukraine in 1991.
PAMELA MORDECAI is a Jamaican-Canadian poet who lives in Toronto and writes for adults and children. Her nine books for grown-ups include called A Fierce Green Place: new and selected poems (New Directions, 2022) and de book of Joseph (Mawenzi House,
2022), third in her New Testament series in Patwa. See https://mordecai.citl.mun.ca/
MARYANA MUKHA: From the start of the full-scale invasion until March 2024, Maryana lived in Kyiv, Ukraine, before relocating to Vancouver. Her first poem, written on June 27, 2022, responded to a deadly Russian attack. She has since performed at events supporting Ukraine and is starting a new life in Canada, balancing poetry with new beginnings.
ANINDITA MUKHERJEE is a poet and translator. Her literary oeuvre includes How Silkworms Break Their Eggs: Selected Poems of Mridul Dasgupta, and a chapbook titled Nothing and Variations, besides publications in other literary magazines. She is a PhD student in English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.
GIANNA PATRIARCA: multiple award-winning author of 13 books: poetry, children’s literature, short fiction, essays. Her work is extensively anthologized, adapted for Canada Stage, CBC Radio, numerous documentaries, and on the course lists of universities in Italy, Canada and the USA.
FAUZIA RAFIQUE Fauzia Rafique is a novelist and arts activist who has published three novels: ‘Keerru‘, ‘Skeena‘, and ‘The Adventures of SahebaN: Biography of a Relentless Warrior’. ‘Insects’, the English translation of Keerru is forthcoming from Hachette India. She is a co-founder and the coordinator of Surrey Muse Arts Society.
BARAN SAJADI is a poet and activist from Afghanistan born in Mashhad, Iran. She experienced child labour and was expelled from Ferdowsi University due to the explicit content of her poetry. Baran has been living in Canada ever since. She has published three poetry collections: Stoning, Period, and Blood Bath.
BÄNOO ZAN (reading as translator for Baran) is a poet, translator, and poetry curator, with over 300 published pieces and three books. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r, Canada’s most diverse and brave poetry series. Bänoo is the co-editor of the international poetry anthology: Woman, Life, Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution, Guernica Editions.
DR. NILOFAR SHIDMEHR is a poet, fiction writer, and poetic-inquiry scholar. She is the author of seven books of poetry in English and Persian, and the chief editor and curator of two Iranian Editions of Bombay Review, and the book Rainbows on Rugged Terrains: Poetics of Queer Iranians in Exile.
JUMOKE VERISSIMO is an acclaimed poet and novelist. Her work includes two award-winning poetry collections, i am memory and The Birth of Illusion, and the critically acclaimed novel, A Small Silence, winner of the Aidoo Synder Book Prize. Her latest poetry collection is forthcoming from Coach House in Fall 2025.
ANNA YIN was Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate (2015-17) and has authored six poetry collections and four books of translations. Anna won poetry awards in both Chinese and English. She teaches Poetry Alive and her 11th book will be published by Frontenac Press in 2025. Her website is annapoetry.com
Eid Celebration with Multilingual Mushaira and International Poetry
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/eid-celebration-poetry
May 9th, 10pm-11:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
Join us for a captivating evening of multilingual poetry and Mushaira, where the rich literary traditions of the Muslim world come alive through the spoken word. This event brings together renowned Muslim poets from across the UK, USA, India and Denmark, showcasing their artistry in various languages, including Urdu, Arabic, Persian, English, and more.
Experience the beauty of poetic expression as these talented poets share verses that resonate with themes of spirituality, identity, culture, and human connection. The voices from different backgrounds will unite in the universal language of poetry again.
International poets include Zakia Zaheer (India), Ghaith Adnan Khaleel Alshati (Germany), Sadaf Mirza (Denmark), Nasima Begum (Bengali poet) Harmesh Manghra ( Punjabi poet) and Leyla Colman (Turkye) who will do a presentation Al Maulana Rumi.
Hosted by: Rubina Khan, Poet and BBC Radio Presenter and Becky Swain, Director of Poetry Library, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Chief Guest: Salma Zaman, children’s author and a Bollywood dance teacher.
Reading James Baldwin: Eubanks & Glaude - Notes of a Native Son
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/reading-james-baldwin
May 21st, 2pm-3:30pm EST, Virtual, Sliding Scale ($10-$40)
I want to be an honest man and a good writer.
Published in 1955, Notes of a Native Son is Baldwin’s attempt “to understand the contradictions of his country,” writes Eddie Glaude, Jr. “He does so as an artist desperate to make sense of a place that rejected its own reality and as a Black man from Harlem who had to survive the consequences of those contradictions. This kind of work was extraordinarily personal to him.”
“I recently taught the title essay to a group of incarcerated men at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman,” writes W. Ralph Eubanks. “Every man in that class felt that Baldwin understood their lives, which had been shaped by abuse, discrimination, poverty, and oppression. Even the two white men in the class commented that reading ‘Notes of a Native Son’ made racial discrimination feel real in a way it had not to them before. This is a book that shows how Baldwin provides light and understanding to his readers and meets them where they are.”
Few American writers have marked their era as powerfully as James Baldwin. As distinctive on the page as on the airwaves, his voice is indelibly associated with the demand for racial justice in the United States, a demand that continues to make him one of our most pressing and urgent contemporaries.
To mark Baldwin’s centenary, the Authors Guild Foundation invites you to join a conversation featuring some of our most exciting writers, scholars, and essayists as we gather to celebrate, study, and reflect on the legacy of Baldwin’s life and work.
…
W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of A Place Like Mississippi; Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi’s Dark Past and The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South. From 1995 to 2013 he was director of publishing for the Library of Congress and currently he is the faculty fellow at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and is at work on his next book, which has the working title When It’s Darkness on the Delta: An American Reckoning. Eubanks serves as President of the Authors Guild.
Eddie Glaude, Jr., is a passionate educator, author, political commentator, and public intellectual who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. His books include Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, and Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for our Own, which was a New York Times bestseller. He is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.
Concerts for Cuba 2025
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/concerts-4-cuba
April 5th, 9pm-11pm EST, Virtual, $Donation
In the last few months, successive cyclones, flooding, earthquakes, and massive power outages have had devastating consequences for the people on the island of Cuba. The increased depravations have compounded the effects of widespread shortages of fuel, medicine and essential supplies.
In response, a consortium of seasoned concert producers have come together across the nation in an unprecedented effort to raise humanitarian aid for Cuba.
On Sunday February 16, live SRO concerts were produced and presented in NYC at the People’s Forum, in Chicago at Constellation, and in the Bay Area at the Chapel. These live concerts were professionally filmed and edited for our SATURDAY APRIL 5 stream via Facebook Live and You Tube. While the streaming concert will be presented without paywalls, the fundraising effort will additionally contribute proceeds directed to support humanitarian aid for Cuba.
Global Partners for Health and The People’s Forum are the designated intermediary recipients and experienced in managing the logistics of large- scale relief efforts and are our designated partners to deliver the supplies.
The national coordinating committee is led by: Bill Martinez, Marguerite Horberg and Hannah Craig with support of local host committees from across the country. The two-hour concert will feature dozens of artists who have donated their time for the project and they include:
ORQUESTA LA MODERNA TRADICIÓN-
JAVIER NAVARRETTE’S, KAI LYONS’ CHARANGÜI WITH SPECIAL GUESTS-
PELLEJO SECO
CUBACARIBE & ARENAS DANCE COMPANY
DJ: LUIS MEDINA
NORBERTO GUERRA & CHARLIE MEJIAS
GRUPO CHA CHA
THE SPECIAL EDITION PROYECTO LIBRE SUPER BAND
BILLY MARTIN AND CALAPITTER
WARNER MEADOWS
An exclusive film created by Belly of the Beast will lead the program with a brief educational message contextualizing the need for material aid in Cuba.
Movie Screening: Remembering Francis Coley
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/remembering-francis-coley
March 28th, 7pm-9pm EST, Virtual, $5
Join the National Black Doulas Association (NBDA) for a special movie screening in celebration of Black History Month. On March 28, 2025, we will be screening the documentary Remembering Francis Coley, honoring the life and contributions of Margaret Charles Smith, a trailblazer in the field of midwifery and Black maternal health.
This documentary tells the powerful story of Francis Coley, whose legacy in reproductive justice and midwifery continues to inspire. We’ll come together to reflect on her impact and discuss her groundbreaking work that transformed maternal care for Black women.
What to Expect:
Screening of Remembering Francis Coley
A discussion on Margaret Charles Smith’s profound influence on midwifery and Black maternal health
A chance to connect with others committed to honoring Black women’s contributions to healthcare
Details:
When: March 28, 2025, from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Where: Zoom (link provided upon registration)
Who Should Attend:
Those interested in Black history, reproductive justice, and the legacy of Black women in midwifery and maternal health.
🎬 Join us for a powerful evening of remembrance and reflection on Margaret Charles Smith's incredible legacy.
Reserve your spot today!
Refugee Poetry Hour
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/refugee-poetry-hour
March 10th, 9am-10:00am EST, Virtual, Free
TogetherintheUK, the PaleWell Press and Freedom from Torture invite you to the Refugee Poetry Hour.
Join us to be moved, entertained and surprised by the voices of brilliant refugee poets based in the UK. This event is a celebration of resilience, hope, and the power of literature to connect us all; the rocket fuel of extraordinary, sometimes terrible experience, sheathed in the beauty of language.
BLACK HISTORY CONCERT
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/march-2-black-history-concert
March 2nd, 4pm-5:30pm EST, Virtual, $20
Celebrate Black history with performances by an outstanding group of professional artists and amazing young performers.
Fabiene Hunter Brown is a soloist known in the New Jersey / Pennsylvania area. She received a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters in Vocal Performance from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). She obtained additional credits from Temple University where she studied voice with Dr. Philip Cho.
SoundEVR is the brainchild of Daniel Spearman. Dreamed up during the hungry days of post undergrad in 2017, SoundEVR has one goal - to get people dancing. Drawing from the history of music made to get folks out of their seats and onto the dance floor, SoundEVR uses the sounds of Funk, Gospel, RnB, House and Pop music to make you move your body.
Julie-Ann Green, soprano, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree as a double major in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Rowan University (formerly Glassboro State College). She has earned Artists Diplomas from the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg, Austria, and has studied Italian Opera, Language, Art and Culture at the Florence Voice Seminar in Florence, Italy.
Lore Constantine has performed throughout the Delaware Valley and Southern New Jersey at a variety of venues. She specializes in presenting an artistic mixture of music of different styles and time periods, from J.S. Bach to Duke Ellington, from The Beatles to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Crip Love, Care & Collaboration in Film: An Artist Talk + Film Screening
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/crip-love-care
February 20th, 8:00am-10:00pm EST, Virtual, $5-10 Sliding Scale
Partners in art and life, Charlie Fitz and Oscar Vinter will discuss how their relationship of interdependent care has influenced their collaborative and independent art practice, specifically their filmmaking. This discussion will be followed by a screening of several of their short art films. The films explore dancing, masking, ableism, medical bureaucracy, care, the body, identity, hysteria and the occult. The session will end with an informal Q&A discussion.
Content warning: some of the films contain flashing images and may trigger those with photosensitive epilepsy. There are also mentions in the films of medical trauma and gaslighting.
Films to be screened
COL5A/FBN2 (2019) (8 minutes 36 seconds) by Oscar Vinter
Dance the Body Electric (2024) (5 minutes 40 seconds) by Oscar Vinter
I do nothing (2019) by Fitz & Vinter (1 minute 55 seconds)
Honey, it's my Hindbrain by Fitz & Vinter (2018) (1 minute 26 seconds)
Hysteric Witch short, by Fitz, work-in-progress (timings tbc)
Access
This event will include comfort breaks throughout its duration as well as live BSL interpretation. This programme will be running on Crip Time. As a result, we endeavour to reschedule events should any of our contributors not feel well / experience a change in capacity in the lead up to and / or on the day of the event itself.
Tickets
In order to ensure this programme is accessible to all, we have implemented a three tiered ticketing system: Pay As You Feel, Standard tickets priced at £5.00 (plus eventbrite fee) as well as Solidarity Tickets priced at £10 (plus eventbrite fee).
If you would like to attend this event but cannot afford to purchase a paid ticket please get in touch with us directly at info@ortgallery.co.uk
About the Artists
Oscar Vinter (he/they) is an afropean neurodivergent artist, composer and filmmaker. www.oscarvinter.com
Charlie Fitz (she/they) is a sick and disabled artist, arts practitioner, writer and member of Resting Up Collective. www.CharlieFitzArtist.co.uk
About the Programme
Crip Resistance: Holding Space, Building Community, is a programme of events exploring disabled, sick, mad, and crip modes of resistance and remote community care. From February to April 2025, this interdisciplinary collaboration between Resting Up Collective and Ort Gallery will feature a series of online events including creative workshops, artist talks, live performances, and film screenings. The programme will include a print and online publication documenting and expanding on the programme's themes as well as a curated collection of books for the Birmingham Resistance Library.
Omar El Akkad: In Conversation
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/omar-el-akkad
February 18th, 7:30pm-8:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
Join us for a visit with award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad to talk about his new book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. Our host for the afternoon will be Sarah Marie, who organizes a live Instagram book series.
Omar El Akkad: In Conversation
Hosted by Sarah Marie
18 February 2025
Zoom Webinar
On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times.
As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage.
This is El Akkad’s nonfiction debut, his most raw and vulnerable work to date, a heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a brilliant articulation of the same breakup we are watching all over the United States, in family rooms, on college campuses, on city streets; the consequences of this rupture are just beginning. This book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.
Celebrating Chinese New Year: A Musical Journey and Mindful New Beginnings
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/celebrating-chinese-new-year
February 6th, 8:30pm-9:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
Celebrating Chinese New Year: A Musical Journey and Mindful New Beginnings
Welcome to our online event where we will celebrate the Lunar New Year in style! Join us for a unique experience filled with mesmerizing traditional Chinese music, meditation, and fun activities to kick off the new year with positivity. Let's embark on a musical journey together and set intentions for a fresh start. This event is all about embracing new beginnings and spreading joy. Don't miss out on this special celebration!
Black History Month Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/black-history-month-hackathon
February 4th, 2pm-4pm EST, Virtual, Free
Join us for our Black History Month Wikipedia edit-a-thon and help to close the Wikipedia racial gap by creating and editing biographies about Black artists and performers with connections to the arts and humanities in DC.
All are welcome and training will be provided for new Wikipedia editors. This event is presented with support from Wikimedia DC.
Please note that editors may not edit or create Wikipedia articles about themselves, their families, their organizations, or their employers.
Be advised that this workshop will include live real-time captioning via Zoom. For reasonable accommodation requests regarding access and inclusion, please contact David Markey (david.markey@dc.gov), no later than 5 business days before the start of this event.
Kai Naima Williams in conversation with Katie Yamasaki
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/kai-naima-williams
January 9th, 9pm-10:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
City Lights celebrates the publication of
The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements
By Kai Naima Williams
Illustrated by Anastasia Magloire Williams
Published by Kaepernick Press
THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT: HOW YURI KOCHIYAMA MARCHED ACROSS MOVEMENTS introduces one of the 20th-century’s most notable freedom fighters, Yuri Kochiyama (1921 – 2014) to the next generation of young readers.
Debut children's picture book author Kai Naima Williams – great-granddaughter of Yuri Kochiyama – intimately chronicles the experiences and lessons, hardships and victories, and people and places that shaped Yuri’s life and influenced her activism. From Yuri’s incarceration in a Japanese-American concentration camp during World War II to her participation in movements organizing for better schools in Harlem to her close friendship with Malcolm X, Yuri never wavered in her belief in the power of people – especially young people – to bring about social change. Through imaginative writing and vibrant illustrations (Anastasia Magloire Williams), THE BRIDGES YURI BUILT is sure to inspire young readers to embrace Yuri’s unswerving belief that together we can build a bridge to a better world.
Kai Naima Williams is a multidisciplinary writer and performing artist based in Harlem, New York. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks He Tried To Drown The Ocean, I Waved (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2018) and Tomorrow Maps (The Hunger Press, 2023) and the children’s picture book The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements (Kaepernick Publishing, 2024). Her work has been featured in MASK Magazine, Louisiana Literature, Stirring Lit, Abolition Is, CRWN Magazine, Literary Manhattan and the upcoming anthology Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities (Haymarket Press, 2025) amongst other publications, and she has been honored by the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival and The New York Times. She is also a co-founder of Eat At The Table Theatre Company.
Katie Yamasaki works primarily as a muralist and picture book creator. She has painted more than eighty murals around the world, and her most recent book is Place Hand Here. She has a forthcoming book coming out in April 2025 from W.W. Norton titled MURAL ISLAND. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation
Virtual Documentary Night!: Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/chavez-documentary
January 5th, 7pm- 9pm EST, Virtual, Free
Virtual Documentary Night is a monthly online event designed to give people the chance to discuss interesting ideas and topics explored in the documentaries that are free for anyone to access online. For this event we voted to talk about the documentary, Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. Jordan Mechner's award-winning 2003 half-hour documentary tells the bittersweet story of an American community betrayed by greed, political hypocrisy, and good intentions gone astray. Don Normark's haunting black-and-white photographs reclaim and celebrate Chávez Ravine, a closely-knit Mexican-American village that once overlooked downtown Los Angeles from the hill where Dodger Stadium now stands. You must watch the film on your own BEFORE the event. You can watch the film for free at this link.
>>Click here to watch Chávez Ravine for free<<
For the event we will meet on Zoom, where you participate in multiple rounds of small group discussions with a different discussion prompt and different randomized groups for each round. This gives you the opportunity to meet new people and hear a variety of perspectives throughout the night. You will receive the Zoom link and password for this event once you register for the event.
If you have any questions or would like to be added to the email list, please contact Adam Hicks at CommunityDocumentaryNight@gmail.com.
To learn more about Community Documentary Night and our past events, check out our website HERE.
African Smartphone International Film Festival (ASIFF) 2024
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/african-phone-film-festival
December 19th, 9am- 11:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
Next-Gen Storytelling: Powered by Mobile
The African Smartphone International Film Festival (ASIFF) is back for its 8th edition, celebrating the innovation, creativity, and accessibility of mobile filmmaking. As the first smartphone film festival in Africa, ASIFF has redefined the art of storytelling, empowering creators worldwide to share their vision using mobile devices.
Join us from December 19–22, 2024, for four days of groundbreaking films, engaging discussions, and hands-on workshops. This year’s theme, “Next-Gen Storytelling: Powered by Mobile,” showcases how filmmakers are revolutionizing the craft of cinema with smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
What to Expect:
Official Film Screenings: Explore an inspiring lineup of short films, documentaries, animations, VR/360 films, and more, created by visionary filmmakers worldwide.
Live Q&A Sessions: Interact directly with filmmakers and gain behind-the-scenes insights into their creative process.
Workshops and Panels: Learn from industry experts about mobile filmmaking techniques, AI tools, and storytelling strategies.
Who Should Attend?
🎬 Aspiring and professional filmmakers
🎨 Creatives and storytellers
🌍 Film enthusiasts and cinephiles
Whether you’re a filmmaker looking to showcase your work, a creator seeking inspiration, or an audience member eager to experience the future of cinema, ASIFF 2024 is for you!
Includes full access to all screenings, workshops, and panel discussions.
How to Attend:
This is an online event. After registration, you will receive a confirmation email with details on how to access the festival platform.
Poets Across Lines: Final Reading 2024
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/poets-across-lines
December 12th, 8pm- 9:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
Join us on December 12, 2024 at 8:00pm EST for an evening of poetry and community. The four poets of the inaugural cohort of Poets Across Lines, Arlo Pate and Kevin L. Tarver in Birmingham and Kevin Sanchez and RuthAnn in Tucson, will read poems created during the program. These poems center around the themes of housing, immigration, and LGBTQIA+ identity, amplifying poetry and poets from communities underserved by the traditional literary establishment. Featuring introductions and readings by program Mentors Erika Wade and Gabriel Dozal, and poems by Advisors Salaam Green and Ofelia Montelongo! This incredible evening of poetry and readings featuring emerging and established poets will center and celebrate community poets, their role and their work.
Poems from this evening will be available in Watching for the Moon Above: Poets Across Lines (Community Poetry from Birmingham & Tucson) a collaborative zine produced by Pansy Press. You can download the zine for free at the end of the reading.
Learn more about the four selected poets of Poets Across Lines 2024:
Arlo Pate (he/they) is a writer and educator currently nestled in Birmingham, Alabama. After studying Anthropology, they got their start in farming and since then has followed opportunities that lead him closer to agriculture and labor organizing. Their relationship with the land has a profound influence on their songwriting and poetry.
Kevin L. Tarver (he/him) is a writer, educator, and mental health advocate living in Birmingham, AL. He is a Black gay man trying to live a joyful life through fierce self-care and emotional honesty. His subject matter includes mental and emotional health awareness, sexual health education, and his experiences within the southern LGBT+ community.
Kevin Sanchez (he/him) was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. As a first generation college graduate, he earned a BA in English and a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Kevin is currently a high school teacher, sharing his love for literature and writing with the future generations of poets.
RuthAnn (they/them) is an aroace abolitionist and accessibility advocate. Born and raised in Arizona, they love the Sonoran Desert, where they continue to reside today. They are a translator and aspiring librarian. In addition to poetry, they enjoy singing, dancing, photography, cross stitch, and hand lettering.
Free and open to the public with registration! The Zoom link will be provided the day of the event.
About the Program
Poets Across Lines is a cross-regional poetry writing program in Birmingham, AL and Tucson, AZ where four poets, two in each city, write poetry that tells the story of their communities—joys, challenges, and resiliency. Through instructor-led writing workshops, cohort convenings, and guest speaker sessions, Poets Across Lines fosters a space that believes poetry is a site of community and coalition building. Learn more on our website or by emailing pal@pen.org.
A FLAME FOR PALESTINE - Christmas Concert and Fundraiser
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/a-flame-for-palestine
December 8th, 12pm- 2pm EDT, Virtual, Free
Join us for our 2024 concert which will feature contributions from:
Lamar Elias, Conductor
Lourdina Baboun, violin, Edward Said National Conservatory of Music almuna and PalMusic scholar
Guest speaker, Reverend Munther Ishaaq from Bethlehem and students of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music.
The concert is free, but we ask everyone to consider making a gift this Christmas, to support the tuition of a child who is not be able to study at ESNCM without financial assistance. For young innocent Palestinians who are witnessing and experiencing distress and trauma daily, the acknowledged benefits of music are immense. Learning music gives Palestinian children and young people a beacon of hope, a sense of belonging and a much-need creative outlet through which to express their emotions.
Special Virtual Documentary Night!: The Life of Leonard Peltier
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/Leonard-Peltier-film
November 17th, 7pm- 9pm EDT, Virtual, Free
Virtual Documentary Night is a monthly online event hosted by Community Documentary Night. It is designed to give people the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions on a wide range of topics with people from various backgrounds. This event is in collaboration with SURJ Boston, specifically their Indigenous Solidarity Action Partnership committee. SURJ Boston is a local chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. They work to connect people across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial justice organizing efforts.
For this Special Virtual Documentary Night, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, we are meeting to talk about the documentary WARRIOR: The Life of Leonard Peltier. This is the definitive feature documentary about American Indian activist, Leonard Peltier. His story is told within the context of the American Indian Movement, the US federal government, and the multi national companies interested in mining the land in South Dakota. Suzie Baer and Jeanne Roach will be joining us for a special guest Q&A! You can watch the film for free at the link below.
>>Click here to watch WARRIOR: The Life of Leonard Peltier for free<<
**PLEASE REMEMBER TO WATCH THE FILM ON YOUR OWN BEFORE JOINING THE EVENT**
How this all works is you will first watch the film on your own prior to our event. Then we will meet on Zoom on the day of the event, where you participate in multiple rounds of small group discussions with a different discussion prompt and different randomized groups for each round. This gives you the opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives throughout the night. Then we will follow with the special guest Q&A! Again, you must watch the film on your own BEFORE the event. You will receive the Zoom link and password once you register for the event. Please remember your Eventbrite login and password. You may need that to access the Zoom info on the day of the event.
If you have any trouble accessing the zoom link, have any questions or would like to be added to the email list, please contact CommunityDocumentaryNight@gmail.com.
To learn more about Community Documentary Night and our past events, check out our website. https://documentarynight.wordpress.com/
We have generated a set of norms and expectations for our event. They were created to help us maintain a welcoming and civil environment for everyone in attendance. Please read through before attending. They will also be recited at the start of the event.
1. This event is open to all who are open to all. This is an inclusive event. We are open to anyone including all gender expressions, racial identities, political affiliations, etc. as long as you are open to hearing the perspective of others.
2. Step Up and Step Back. Step up meaning we ask that you step up and share your perspective so that we can learn and grow from your knowledge and experience. Step back meaning we ask that you step back on occasion, allowing yourself the opportunity to hear and grow from the experience and perspectives of others in attendance.
3. Allow others to express their full thought. This is just a nice way of saying try not to interrupt.
4. Be mindful of others wanting to speak. Try to keep your thoughts concise, allowing time for others to respond.
5. If you don't agree, this is not a debate but a discussion. So instead of trying to sway the other person, try to understand where they are coming from. That can be done by asking "What makes you think that?" This requires coming from a place of curiosity rather than competition.
6. But even though it's not a debate, feel free to challenge what is said. Not in saying "You're wrong." But by sharing the idea that you have and asking how that fits with what they just shared. This allows for both ideas to be in the same space and gives the other person an opportunity to explain their thinking.
7. Assume good intentions. We are all here to learn and grow together. If something does not sound right, ask first for clarification before jumping to conclusions.
8. If there is an issue, speak up in the moment, if at all possible. Some may not realize that what they said had a negative impact on those in the room. Speaking up can give them the opportunity to correct what they said.
9. If it is not possible to resolve amongst yourselves, request that the host join your room. Once he enters your breakout room you can explain the situation or send him a private message if you are not comfortable stating the problem openly. If you would rather wait till after the event, feel free to email the host at CommunityDocumentaryNight@gmail.com, then we can figure out a way of resolving the issue for future events.
10. It's ok to eat on video. This event occurs around dinner time for many of us. So feel free to eat while participating in the discussion. We just ask that you mute yourself while you are chewing.
Virtual Book Talk: On Childhood Migration from Central America
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/solito-talk
November 14th, 4pm-5:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
NOTE: This is an online-only event hosted by the Library Speakers Consortium. Please go here to finalize your registration: https://libraryc.org/detroitpubliclibrary/60073/register
Tune in for a special conversation with New York Times bestselling author Javier Zamora as he chats with us about his riveting tale of survival and perseverance as told in his award-winning memoir Solito.
Zamora’s adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks.At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family.Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home. Register today to learn more about this gripping and moving story!
About the Author: Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990. His father fled the country when he was one, and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents’ migrations were caused by the U.S.-funded Salvadoran Civil War. When he was nine Javier migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert. His debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, explores the impact of the war and immigration on his family. Zamora has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and holds fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
NOTE: This is an online-only event hosted by the Library Speakers Consortium. Please go here to finalize your registration: https://libraryc.org/detroitpubliclibrary/60073/register
Questions? Email msummers@detroitpubliclibrary.org for help!
[VIRTUAL] Maima: The Water Spirit
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/maima-water-spirit
November 8th, 8pm EDT, Virtual, $20
Maima: The Water Spirit is a dance performance exploring the language of movement as a way of communication and time travel through music. This work forms part of DANCING FUTURES, a residency celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Presented by Pepatián in partnership with BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) Dancing Futures provides emerging Bronx-based and/or dance artists of color with valuable resources, performance opportunities, mentorship, and professional documentation to help foster and showcase new dance and performance work. Major support is provided by the Jerome Foundation.
Palestinian Poet: Mosab Abu Toha
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/mosab-abu-toha-reading
November 4th, 10pm- 11:30pm EST, Virtual, Free
City Lights and Alfred A Knopf present Mosab Abu Toha reading poetry to celebrate the publication of
Forest of Noise: poems, published by Alfred A Knopf.
“A powerful, capacious, and profound” (Ocean Vuong) new collection of poems about life in Gaza by an award-winning Palestinian poet.
Barely thirty years old, Mosab Abu Toha was already a well-known poet when the current siege of Gaza began. After the Israeli army bombed and destroyed his house, pulverizing a library he had painstakingly built for community use, he and his family fled for their safety. Not for the first time in their lives.
Somehow, amid the chaos, Abu Toha kept writing poems. These are those poems. Uncannily clear, direct, and beautifully tuned, they form one of the most astonishing works of art wrested from wartime. Here are directives for what to do in an air raid; here are lyrics about the poet’s wife, singing to his children to distract them. Huddled in the dark, Abu Toha remembers his grandfather’s oranges, his daughter’s joy in eating them.
Moving between glimpses of life in relative peacetime and absurdist poems about surviving in a barely livable occupation, Forest of Noise invites a wide audience into an experience that defies the imagination—even as it is watched live. Abu Toha’s poems introduce readers to his extended family, some of them no longer with us. This is an urgent, extraordinary, and arrestingly whimsical book. Searing and beautiful, it brings us indelible art in a time of terrible suffering.
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short-story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His first collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, published by City Lights, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and won the Palestine Book Award, the American Book Award, and the Walcott Poetry Prize. Abu Toha is also the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza, which he hopes to rebuild. He recently won an Overseas Press Club Award for his “Letter from Gaza” columns for The New Yorker.
Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation.
Journey of a Refugee
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/journey-of-a-refugee
November 2nd, 10:00am- 11:00am EDT, Virtual, Free
This event is part of the Yorkshire Festival of Story.
Journey of a Refugee is a powerful and moving production exploring the universal theme of people searching for a place they can call home.
Using a beautiful blend of puppetry and dance, this visually stunning piece of epic storytelling invites audiences to find compassion and humanity as they follow the journey of a refugee from their homeland to the UK.
A Theatre-Rites production, part of This is Croydon London Borough of Culture, and adapted from Theatre-Rites’ 2017/18 production The Welcoming Party co-produced with Manchester International Festival, Z-arts and the Ruhrtriennale Festival. Created in collaboration with Agudo Dance Company who delivered an extensive workshop programme.
“Powerful and stunning. A must-see piece of theatre.” – Adventures in Theatreland
“Gorgeous, politically engaged and beautifully crafted show.” – 4.5 stars – The Reviews Hub
“Unmissable! Vibrant, sensory, emotional.” – 5 stars – Everything Theatre
“Journey of a Refugee is a beautiful piece of work which sensitively explores ideas about asylum in an accessible way for youngsters, while providing important talking points for audiences of all ages.” – The Family Stage
Black, Disabled and Proud
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/black-disabled-proud
October 30th, 10:30am - 11:30am EDT, Virtual, Free
Act Up! Newham presents 'Black, Disabled and Proud' to celebrate Black History Month (in UK). An afternoon of entertainment written and directed by Act Up! Newham's Black artists, compered by Glory Sengo. Jade Sempare uses a well known song to explore the affects of staring on her everyday life; Awa Jagne takes the audience with her on her bus journey; Grace Fundu explores the meaning of beauty; and Glory Sengo entertains us with Congolese dance. Followed by a Q&A with the performers. Act Up! Newham is Together! 2012 CIC's Associate Drama Company.
AAIFF Asia - All Asian Independent Film Festival 2024
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/aaiff-asia-film
October 18th, 7:00am - October 20th, 11:00am EDT, Virtual, 10 Euros, 11-12 Dollars
The AAIFF Asia, the All Asian Independent Film Festival, has been launched to support independent filmmakers throughout Asia to display their unique ideas, to tell the stories deep down inside their hearts, and to inspire both audiences and other independent filmmakers.
As the sister film festival of ÉCU—the European Independent Film Festival, which has been held in Paris for 19 years, the AAIFF Asia has the ability to harness the rock-solid reputation of the ÉCU Film Festival Group as being one of the World’s foremost independent film festivals groups and to help bring global attention to Asia's independent filmmakers.
Our objective is to offer excellent opportunities for all the Asian independent filmmakers to find audiences for their films, to connect with peers, distributors and talent scouts – and importantly to provide them unforgettable film festival experience.
+ How will I see the films? +
You'll receive every day a secure link to our website and a Password, which will allow you to see the Livestream of the films for each day.
Black Poetry Day: Poetry Reading
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/black-poetry-day
October 17th, 7:00pm-8:00pm EDT, Virtual, Free
Established in 1970, Black Poetry celebrates the advent of poetry by black poets in America with the birth of Jupiter Hammon, America’s first black poet, born on October 17, 1711, at the Lloyd Manor in Long Island.
Poets:
Akua Lezli Hope
Jaqueline Johnson
Linda Addison
Miguel Mitchell
will present their poetry live on Facebook via Zoom from 7 to 8 pm EST.
Han Qin: Little Images
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/Han-Qin-Little-Images
October 2nd, 10:30am-11:30am, EDT, Virtual, Free
Explore the current exhibition Han Qin: Little Images on a virtual tour with artist Han Qin and Joyce Raimondo, Education Coordinator. Inspired by the early works of Lee Krasner, Han Qin's exhibition Little Images confronts the idea of “home” as both a refuge and a restraint. Drawings, videos, sculptures, personal artifacts, and site-responsive installations illustrate Qin's own search for belonging, personally, artistically, and culturally. Han Qin is a visual artist, researcher, and art journalist based in Long Island, NY and Hangzhou, China. The exhibition is on view at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, 830 Springs Fireplace Road, East Hampton, New York, through October 31, 2024.
Offered by the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center
Virtual Programs Hosted by Joyce Raimondo
New Jeans!
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/new-jeans-september
September 19th, 10:00pm-11:00pm, Virtual, $10
New Jeans, written, choreographed and directed by David Alonzo Jones, is as much a journey into avante garde musical theater as it is a stylish documentary on post revolutionary Cuba. It's theme song "Viva Cuba", is the hallmark refrain of the enduring spirit of the Cuban people. Songs "I'll Swim If I Have To" and "American Tourists" ring with the heartfelt frustration with Cuba's isolation and desperate need for commerce. Based on fact, Viva Cuba is a provocative blend of culture and expression presented in dance (African, Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Hip Hop, Salsa) to original songs. Viva Cuba is a captivating story told with hot Latin rhythms and an exuberant song and dance ensemble. Check out the website for the full list of available show dates.
adrienne maree brown in conversation with Matt McGorry
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/loving-corrections
September 11th, 9:00pm-10:30pm, Virtual, Free
adrienne maree brown in conversation with Matt McGorry
A discussion and reading centered upon the book Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown, afterword by Janine de Novais, published by AK Press as part of the Emergent Strategy Series.
New York Times-bestselling author adrienne maree brown knows we need each other more than ever, and offers “loving corrections”: a roadmap towards collective power, righting wrongs, and true belonging.
This selection of prescient, compassionate essays explores patterns we engage in that are rooted in limited thinking. Through a lens of “loving correction” rather than mere critique, author adrienne maree brown helps us reimagine how to hold ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities accountable by setting clear boundaries, engaging in reflection, and nurturing honest relationships.
Along with allowing us more authentic access to ourselves and to each other, these “corrections” are intended to explore and break identity-based patterns including white supremacy, fragility, patriarchy, and ableism. brown also offers practical guidance on how to apologize and be accountable from our nuanced positions of power, history, and resources.
adrienne maree brown grows ideas in public. She is a student of the works of Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin. Some of her books include Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, We Will Not Cancel Us, and the speculative fiction trilogy, Grievers. She is the editor of the Emergent Strategy Series.
Matthew David McGorry is an American actor. He is best known for playing John Bennett in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black and Asher Millstone in the ABC legal thriller series How to Get Away with Murder.
Made possible by the support of the City Lights Foundation.
PSNY Free Verse Workshop: Queer Poetics of Disability
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/free-verse-workshop-bipoc
September 3rd, 7:00pm-8:15pm, Virtual, Free
This workshop closely observes how normative medical language and languages of the body can be subverted to express the reality of living in a body with chronic illness, disability, or neurodivergence, "queering" language to reveal surprising and new ways to think about corporeality. We will observe work by Hala Alyan, Anthony Lombardi, Kay Ulanday Barrett, heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, Mia Mingus, Alice Wong, and more.
About the instructor: Ashna Ali is a Best-of-the-Net-nominated queer, disabled, and diasporic poet, writer, and educator raised in Italy and based in Brooklyn. Their work has been featured or is forthcoming in The Margins, Split This Rock, The Felt, Nat. Brut., Zoeglossia, and beyond. Their forthcoming collection, The Relativity of Living Well, documents the connections between the political neglect of the COVID pandemic in 2020 with contemporary struggles for Palestinian liberation and freedom from American fascism. They hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and publish a weekly Substack newsletter called PAIN BABY.
This workshop is taught by and for Black, Indigenous, and other Persons of Color with an interest in poetry. We invite folks to connect in this safe, generative, BIPOC-centered space: to share work, experiences, and discourse. At the end of every workshop, we welcome the sharing of resources, such as literature, community events, and grants available for application. Respectfully and consensually connecting with other members outside of the space is encouraged. If you are not BIPOC-identifying, we kindly invite you to attend other PSNY events. While topics do not necessarily center around being BIPOC, this community space is designed specifically for the BIPOC experience. Attendees of our Monthly Free Workshops for BIPOC Creatives receive a 50% off discount code for our Weekly Virtual Workshops!
Painting for Palestine
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/painting-for-palestine
August 22nd, 2:00pm-4:00pm, Virtual, Donation
Painting for Palestine
In this reoccurring online watercolour course we will celebrate Palestinian culture and raise funds for Palestinian people.
Over two weeks, we will begin to explore the rich heritage of Palestine through art. Our first workshop will focus on painting flowers native to Palestine, while the second will delve into the intricate Tatreez embroidery technique.
This course is donation-based, with all funds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Session 1: Wild Flowers of Palestine
Session 2: Palestinian Embroidery: The Tatreez Technique
Dates and Times
Thu, 22nd August 2024 19:00 - 21:00 GMT (2pm-4pm EDT)
Thu, 29th August 2024 19:00 - 21:00 GMT (2pm-4pm EDT)
Suggested donation: £20 /$25.81
CRIPtic Arts 2024 Summer Sharing
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/criptic-arts-2024
August 15th, 2:30pm-4:00pm, Virtual, Free
Experience new work in development by our Launchpad artists in anticipation of our upcoming Fall show in this online sharing. These pieces, once developed, will be shown at the Barbican as part of The Acts.
2024 Launchpad artists will be sharing work-in-progress style excerpts of the pieces they are developing as part of the programme. These pieces, once developed, will be shown at the Barbican as part of The Acts. This is a chance for audiences to see the work as it’s made, but also to give feedback which will help the work develop.
The completed “Acts” comes to The Pit Theatre at the Barbican for 2 nights, Friday 8th & Saturday 9th November.
The individual acts:
A.C. Smith brings To Rose On Her 18th Birthday, a love letter written by a mother to her daughter as she reaches for joy after twice developing cancer, aware her daughter may have inherited the same genetic risk.
Stephen Bailey and ASYLUM Arts present the darkly comedic Autistic as Fuck, exploring the complexities and contradictions of neurodivergence, masking, and the ways we’re told we need to tell our stories for them to be seen by non-disabled audiences.
Peyvand Sadeghian & Matthew Robinson use immersive projections & material from the NASA archives of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, to navigate awe, despair, wellness, and isolation in Over The Moon (working title).
Hugh Maylon & Steve Sowden intertwine classical myth with knotty reality, taking us to the seaside long after the holidays have ended in the liminal and unreal Humetheus and the Quest for the Bronze Cloak.
The Acts has been made possible with the support of Arts Council England & The Barbican Centre.
Access Information
Auto-captions
BSL Interpretation
Integrated AD
Rest break
Please note this event contains swearing, and references to death, loss and cancer.
BookWoman 2nd Thursday Virtual Poetry Reading featuring Saba Husain
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/saba-husain
August 8th, 8:15pm-10:00pm, Virtual, Free
BookWoman 2nd Thursday poetry is delighted to welcome Saba Husain as our feature on Thursday, August 8, 2024 from 8:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EDT. This will be a Zoom-only event.
Saba Husain is a Pakistani-American poet from Houston. Her debut poetry collection, Elegy for My Tongue, was published by Terrapin Books in 2023. She has work in Barrow Street, Cimarron Review, On the Seawall, Puerto del Sol, Southern Poetry Anthology, Third Coast, The Shore, and elsewhere. Saba is a 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee, a 2023 Perugia Press finalist, and a 2021 and 2020 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize finalist. She works a day job and has served on the board of Mutabilis Press since 2019. Saba earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from University of Houston.
Cindy Huyser hosts; an open mic follows.
Please be sure to log into Zoom with your email address and password before accessing the event. EventBrite registration is required.
Contact BookWoman to order your copy of Elegy for My Tongue and other titles for in-store pickup, curbside delivery and direct-from-warehouse shipping: bookwomanaustin@gmail.com; (512)472-2785; https://ebookwoman.com .
Virtual Watch Party: Baldwin in Paris
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/baldwin-in-paris
August 3rd, 1:00pm-3:00pm, Virtual, $0-$15
Join us for a virtual watch party as we explore the captivating world of James Baldwin in Paris.
"A portrait of James Baldwin, one of the towering figures of 20th-century American literature, Black culture and political thought, filmed in Paris. The iconic writer is captured in many symbolic locations in Paris, where he was living at the time."
The 28-minute documentary is stressful to watch. I think it needs to be watched in community because your body goes through so much when you’re watching it. It presents the tension between two people (the documentarian and the author) and the tension between two concepts (consumerism and humanity) James Baldwin models grace, defends his love ethic, and stays committed to sharing his truth. He stays aligned to his purpose. We are writers and storytellers looking to share our truth with the world. It’s important to me that we see how our ancestors stood tall as they wrote. Writers love to write and know how to form their craft, but do we know how to say, “how I tell me story is more important than your expectation of it.”
BLACK SNAFU and Photography as an Emotional Outlet with André Ramos-Woodard
EVENT LINK: https://tinyurl.com/black-snafu
July 17th, 8:00pm-9:00pm, Virtual, Free
Santa Fe Workshops’ collection of free online events, Creativity Continues, features an evening this summer with photo-based artist André Ramos-Woodard (he/they). André uses their work to emphasize the experiences of marginalized communities while highlighting the repercussions of contemporary and historical discrimination. His art explores ideas of communal and personal identity, influenced by his direct experiences as a queer African American raised in Tennessee and Texas. Focusing on Black liberation, queer justice, and the reality of mental health, he aspires for his art to help bring power to the people.
During this program, André discusses the relationship between raw emotion and image making. André has been a crybaby for as long as they can remember; from forgetting their homework as a kid to watching those cheesy videos of families reuniting as an adult, they’ve never been able to shake those tears! André is just an emotional-ass person. For a long time, they considered it a substantial weakness within their personhood. In reality, all that crying was coming from a person who cared deeply for the people he loved.
Today, André channels their emotions into the themes behind their work. André uses his artwork to storytell, teach, and question ideas regarding historically marginalized communities–pushing these realities to the forefront of a world plagued by misogyny, anti-queerness, and white supremacy. During this Creativity Continues, André will share work from his mixed-media project BLACK SNAFU, investigating the reason he felt compelled to create the series and critique pop-culture, and why he believes it is important for people–especially marginalized people–to create from real, raw, doggone emotions.
At the end of their presentation, André takes questions from the webinar audience. A recorded segment of the live event will be available for all those registered.
Selected for Silver Eye’s inaugural 2021 Silver List and a two-time Finalist for Photolucida’s Critical Mass (in 2020 and 2023), André has shown their work at various institutions across the United States, including the Tamarind Institute–Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston–Houston, Texas, Leon Gallery–Denver, Colorado, and FILTER Photo–Chicago, Illinois. He received his BFA from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and his MFA at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Creativity Continues is a program that collectively develops creative voices by offering connection and encouraging expression. Because the goal is to engage all within our creative community, we encourage you to extend invitations and share Santa Fe Workshops Creativity Continues events with anyone who expresses an interest.