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Poet and professor Patricia Smith shares insights into her process by offering readings and commentary on the backstories informing some of her celebrated work. In person or virtual on Zoom.
To attend this program virtually, please register at this link.
Ever wonder "How did the world did she get that idea?" This reading/revelation tells the tale behind the poet's most recited, revisited and reprinted poems. How did she step into the body of a skinhead and what did she find there? Whatever did Medusa do to deserve that weird punishment? Why can't Olive Oyl just settle down with Popeye, and whose baby is Swee'Pea? What did Katrina think as she hurtled toward New Orleans? Here's a rare chance for a glimpse inside an actual poet's actual brain as she pens comedy, tragedy, trauma and general hijinks in a quest to change the way you see the world.
About the poet:
Patricia Smith is the 2021 recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, presented by the Poetry Foundation, and a 2022 inductee of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the author of nine books of poetry, including Unshuttered (Feb 2023); Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the 2018 NAACP Image Award, and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize;Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist; and Gotta Go, Gotta Flow, a collaboration with award-winning Chicago photographer Michael Abramson. Her other books include the poetry volumes Teahouse of the Almighty, Close to Death, Big Towns Big Talk, Life According to Motown; the children's book Janna and the Kings and the history Africans in America, a companion book to the award-winning PBS series. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, The Baffler, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Tin House and in Best American Poetry, Best American Essays and Best American Mystery Stories. She co-edited The Golden Shovel Anthology—New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks and edited the crime fiction anthology Staten Island Noir.
(Photo Credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths.)
Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Workshops & Classes | Poetry | Humanities | *Registration Required |
TAGS: | NEH |
