Join us for a full day of readings, workshops, multi-genre performances, a small press fair, and more. Free and open to all! Register here for the festival!
Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology edited by poet and critic RIGOBERTO GONZÁLEZ gathers more than 180 poets in Spanish and English spanning from the 17th century to the present. These poems bear witness to the beauty and power of this vibrant and expanding tradition: its profound engagement with pasts both mythical and historical, its reckoning with the complexities of language, land, and identity, and its vision of a nation enriched by the stories of immigrants, exiles, refugees, and their descendants.
Join us for an evening of poetry celebrating the richest, most revelatory collection of 21st-century Latino poetry ever published, followed by a dance party. Featuring DIANNELY ANTIGUA, RICHARD BLANCO, SANDRA M. CASTILLO, ADRIAN CASTRO, ARIEL FRANCISCO, RIGOBERTO GONZÁLEZ, FARID MATUK, PABLO MEDINA, DEBORAH PAREDEZ, GABRIEL RAMIREZ, and ALEXANDRA LYTTON REGALADO. Introduction by CARIDAD MORO-GRONLIER, poet laureate for Miami-Dade County; moderated by MAX RUDIN, president and publisher of Library of America.
Join us for a poetry reading and conversation on the role of the localized poet laureate in service to the community. DIANNELY ANTIGUA (Portsmouth, New Hampshire) grapples with the body as a site of pain and trauma in Good Monster, chronicling her reckoning with shame, her fallout with faith, and the desire to feel pleasure in an inhospitable body. Love Prodigal by TRACI BRIMHALL (Kansas) lives in the dishevelment of starting over from a divorce and a new diagnosis, cycles of loss, heartbreak, family, and chronic illness, reaching for the slow, messy, and imperfect process of healing. CARIDAD MORO-GRONLIER (Miami-Dade County) plunges readers into Cuban American life on-the-hyphen in Tortillera, considering the role of language on gender, sexuality, diaspora, and shame. Moderated by NICOLE TALLMAN, poetry ambassador for Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Whiting Award–winning poet Diannely Antigua (Good Monster) and National Book Award finalist Danez Smith (Bluff) are joined by Oregon Public Broadcasting host and producer Jenn Chávez to reflect on the role despair and violence, hope and resilience play in their latest poetry collections.
With an equal dose of fatalism and dark wit, Antigua captures the body’s capacity to cage and cradle sadness.
Diannely Antigua’s Good Monster grapples with the body as a site of chronic pain and trauma. Poignant and guttural, the collection “voyage[s] the land between crisis and hope,” chronicling Antigua’s reckoning with shame and her fallout with faith. As poems cage and cradle devastating truths–a stepfather’s abusive touch, a mother’s “soft harm”–the speaker’s anxiety, depression, and boundless need become monstrous shadows. Here, poems dance on bars, speak in tongues, and cry in psych wards. When “God [becomes] a house [she] can’t leave,” language becomes the only currency left. We see the messiness of survival unfold through sestinas, a series of Sad Girl sonnets, and diary entries–an invented collage form using Antigua’s personal journals. At the crux of despair, Antigua locates a resilient desire to find a love that will remain, to feel pleasure in an inhospitable body and, above all, to keep on living.
Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith’s powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame, and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we can strive toward a new existence in a world that seems to be dissolving into desolate futures.
Smith brings a startling urgency to these poems, their questions demanding a new language, a deep self-scrutiny, and virtuosic textual shapes. A series of ars poetica gives way to “anti poetica” and “ars america” to implicate poetry’s collusions with unchecked capitalism. A photographic collage accrues across a sequence to make clear the consequences of America’s acceptance of mass shootings. A brilliant long poem–part map, part annotation, part visual argument–offers the history of Saint Paul’s vibrant Rondo neighborhood before and after officials decided to run an interstate directly through it.
Bluff is a kind of manifesto about artistic resilience, even when time and will can seem fleeting, when the places we most love–those given and made–are burning. In this soaring collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage, and imagination to envision futures that seem possible.
Join poets Amanda Hawkins and Diannely Antigua at UpUp Books where they’ll read from their collections and discuss how poetry “cage[s] and cradle[s]” visceral truths. Hawkins’s forthcoming collection, When I Say the Bones I Mean the Bones(Wandering Aengus, 2025), “burns through themes of living, dying, of the spiritual, how human beings fit onto and into the earth.” Antigua’s Good Monster (Copper Canyon, 2024) “reckons with shame and her fallout with faith.” Both poets embrace darkness and ambiguity in their pursuit of spaces – bodily and otherwise – worthy of being called home.
12:40-1:50 PM – Victoria Theater in NJPAC – PANEL: Because We Come from Everything Hosted by Letras Latinas (Carmen Calatyud, Blas Falconer, Diannely Antigua, Naomi Ortiz)
Poetry is for everyone at The 20th Dodge Poetry Festival, October 17 – 19. Downtown Newark will be buzzing with music and spoken word performances in this joyful, community-driven celebration. Hear headliners Mahogany L. Browne, Tyehimba Jess, Claudia Rankine, Sonia Sanchez, Afaa Michael Weaver, Aracelis Girmay and more — along with dozens of activities, workshops, poetry slams and jams. And don’t miss Saturday’s free Family Fun Day in Military Park, with a DJ, community poets, drag storytelling, face painting and fun.
Purchase tickets HERE!
Wednesday, October 9
6:00 PM A SHOWCASE OF BLACK POET LAUREATES
PORTLAND - SPACE Gallery
Five Black poets from all over the U.S. who have held or currently hold the title of Poet Laureate in their city will read their original work and engage in a panel discussion moderated by former poet laureate of Portland, Maine Maya Williams. Featuring A$iahMae (Charleston, South Carolina), Andrea Vocab Sanderson (San Antonio, Texas), Diannely Antigua (Portsmouth, New Hampshire), Junious "Jay" Ward (Charlotte, North Carolina), and Melissa Ferrer-Civil (Kansas City, Missouri).
1-2:30pm [Hybrid] — Poets of the Public: New England Poet Laureates
Poets will share about their role as Poet Laureate in their respective communities, sharing information about the programming we each developed, and will discuss what it means to be a “Civic Poet” with a broad set of responsibilities and audiences while also maintaining one’s own personal writing practice. Featuring Oliver de la Paz and Diannely Antigua.
7-8:30pm [Hybrid] — Open Mic Night with Oliver de la Paz and Diannely Antigua
Bring your poems to Emily Dickinson’s garden! Readers will have 5 minutes each to make us feel “physically as if the top of [our] head[s] were taken off!” (Emily Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 16 August 1870) Featured poets Oliver de la Paz and Diannelly Antigua will follow the open mic. Open mic sign-ups will be handled in advance via a Google Form and a lottery, and selected readers will be notified. Stay tuned for the Google form, which will be posted here.
WHEN:
Sunday, August 18th, 2024
WHERE:
Strawbery Banke Museum
Portsmouth, NH
Join us for the second annual Brooklyn Poets Poetry Festival from May 24 to 26 at 144 Montague Street or via Zoom! In the mornings, we’ll explore creative process and write new material in generative workshops. In the afternoons, we’ll listen to readings by the day's instructors, engage in craft talks with acclaimed poets and listen to panels on a variety of topics. In the evenings, participants will get the chance to read their own work during open mics and listen to readings from the day's panelists and other poets in our community. Read more about this year's lineup and view the full schedule below.
You can register for a single-day or three-day pass for in-person or virtual attendance. All participants will have access to livestream recordings of festival sessions upon request.
If you’re in need of financial aid, you can apply for a fellowship to register for the festival for free or at reduced cost. Fellowship applications are due April 21 at 11:59 PM (US ET). We strongly encourage writers from historically underserved and marginalized communities to apply, including (but not limited to) writers of color, LGBTQ+ writers, writers with disabilities and women writers. Click here to apply.
Note that by participating in, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees are required to wear masks (regardless of vaccination status) except readers at a safe distance on stage, and we will have masks available. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.
Closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us.
Join us on Sunday, May 19, from 11:40 a.m to 2 p.m. for free hourly poetry performances by Diannely Antigua, Omotara James, and Maya C. Popa at Fifth Avenue Blooms. This annual festival celebrating spring is presented by Van Cleef & Arpels and the Fifth Avenue Association, in partnership with the Academy of American Poets.
Diannely Antigua is the author of the poetry collections Ugly Music (YesYes Books, 2019) and Good Monster (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). She hosts the podcast Bread & Poetry and is currently the Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, NH.
Omotara James is the author of the poetry collection Song of My Softening (Alice James Books, 2024) and the chapbook Daughter Tongue (Akashic Books, 2018). James’s poems have been featured in NPR’s Morning Edition, Poem-a-Day, and Poetry Daily.
Maya C. Popa is most recently the author of Wound is the Origin of Wonder (W. W. Norton 2022; Picador, 2023) and the chapbook Dear Life (Smith|Doorstop, 2022). Her newsletter, Poetry Today, is a Substack bestseller and featured publication.
Schedule:
11:40 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Maya C. Popa
12:40 p.m. to 1 p.m.: Diannely Antigua
1:40 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Omotara James
Join us at UNH for a weekend full of poetry, readings, panels, celebrations and more!
Click here for the full schedule!
Click here to register!
Find Diannely Antigua at the following event:
7:00 - 8:30 PM | Headline Event - Dimond Library's Courtyard Reading Room
New Hampshire Teen Poetry Prize Winners: Leonardo Chung, Pearl Hoekstra-Toste, Pranavi Vedula
Headliners: Diannely Antigua, Mckendy Fils-Aime, Nathan McClain
Headlining Poets Diannely Antigua and Oliver de Paz will read at the Goethe-Institut 2 PM.
Diannely Antigua will be reading poetry during the opening ceremony for BIPOC Fest. For more information, please visit the event website here!
Exit Dance Theatre is joining The Actors Studio of Newburyport’s HERstory Month Fundraiser, performing Saturday, March 5, 2022 at the Firehouse Center for the Arts at 7:30pm. The show will feature new choreography, dance films (produced during COVID), and text by writers Blake Hammond, and Newburyport’s own Will Mombello. Special guest, award winning poet, Diannely Antigua, will be reading her work as well. Antigua’s poems have been described as "beautifully disturbing" and "dangerously alive”.
New choreography by Fontaine Dollas Dubus, Erin Staffiere and Jen Steeves, among others, centers around themes of societal struggles, faith, and the Southern Italian ritual dance of the Tarantella.
Tickets are $15.00. View current COVID-19 Protocols.
Performers: Fontaine Dubus, Wendy Durham, Nicole Duquette, Sarah George, Erin Staffiere, Jen Steeves, Yori Thomas, Anna Wallack, Julie Pike, Kayla Waldron, Edward Speck and special appearances by Elyse Brown and Victoria Grinnings.
Register here for the Poetry Festival!
Readings from poets featured in the anthology BreakBeat Poets vol 4: LatiNext —Malcom Friend, Diannely Antigua, and Jonathan Mendoza.
Moderator: Safiya Sinclair
Format: This is a free, live, virtual event.
Q&A: Please direct questions to the authors and moderator with CrowdCast's "Ask a Question" button and not the chat box. Questions will be shared with the moderator, and the moderator will attempt to get to as many audience questions as possible toward the end of the session.
Chat: Feel free to use the chat box to share your thoughts and virtually cheer for and share kudos with the session's participants! Disorderly comments will be removed immediately, at our producers' sole discretion. Please refer to the code of conduct.
Books: Please consider clicking the "Buy the Book(s)" button below the video feed, which leads to BookPeople, Texas Book Festival's partner bookseller. Your purchase helps support the author(s), independent bookselling, and the Texas Book Festival. Thank you.
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers
The Breathing Body of This Thought
Our annual Saturday evening celebration of poetry might by BYOB this year, but it still promises to be the literary gathering of the weekend, as we bring together a talented group of poets to share their latest work in a casual, free-flowing setting, capably emceed by poet Krysten Hill (How Her Spirit Got Out), who will share some of her own work as well. Poets George Abraham (Birthright), Diannely Antigua (Ugly Music), Kay Ulanday Barrett (More Than Organs), and Franny Choi (Soft Science) will read from their latest collections and answer your questions as well. Join us and the co-sponsors of this event, Mass Poetry, to raise a glass or two with other poetry lovers at what’s become a BBF Saturday tradition.
Who:
When:November 9 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Where:
Portland’5 Winningstad Theatre (Poetry Foundation Stage)
1111 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205
These poets confront the trauma of the past—the personal past and the shared past—while celebrating desire and love. Ugly Music, the debut collection from Diannely Antigua, explores reality, dream, trauma, and obsession, and how to create an identity informed by and in spite of the past. Jericho Brown’s The Tradition, longlisted for the National Book Award, details the normalization of evil and its history at the intersection of the past and the personal in poems of fatherhood, legacy, blackness, queerness, worship, and trauma. Malcolm Tariq’s debut, Heed the Hollow, explores the concept of “the bottom” across blackness, sexuality, and the American South in poems that reckon with a lineage of trauma while searching for beauty and love. Moderated by Erika Stevens, poetry editor at Coffee House Press.
We proudly present our Lit Crawl Portland 2019 event, Our Words Are a Bridge: An Evening with The Rumpus, Corporeal Writing, and YesYes Books!
Where:
Coporeal Writing
510 SW 3rd Ave #101
Portland, OR 97204
With readings from Diannely Antigua, Jennine Capó Crucet, Steph Cha, Brandon Courtney, Ross Gay, Matt Hart, and T Kira Madden. Hosted by Rumpus Editor-in-Chief Marisa Siegel.
This event is free and open to the public! Original event artwork by Lisa Lee Herrick.
Join us for a reading by 2019 Poetry Festival features Diannely Antigua and Hyejung Kook, 5:00 PM at The Nines! Opening reading by Victoria Hudson. Free and open to the public.
For more Poetry Festival events, visit: https://www.openmouthreadings.com/2019-poetry-festival
DIANNELY ANTIGUA
Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection Ugly Music was the winner of the YesYes Books Pamet River Prize. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she won the Jack Kerouac Creative Writing Scholarship and received her MFA at NYU where she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She is the recipient of additional fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, and the Fine Arts Work Center Summer Program. Her work has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her poems can be found in Washington Square Review, Bennington Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. Her heart is in Brooklyn.
More about Diannely at https://diannelyantigua.com/
HYEJUNG KOOK
Hyejung Kook's poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit, Half Mystic Radio, The Massachusetts Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Hyphen Magazine, and Pleiades. Other works include an essay in The Critical Flame and a chamber opera libretto. Hyejung was born in Seoul, Korea and now lives in Kansas with her husband and their two young children. She is a Fulbright grantee and a Kundiman fellow.
More about Hyejung at https://hyejungkook.tumblr.com/
VICTORIA HUDSON
Victoria Hudson is an MFA candidate and recipient of a Lily Peters Fellowship at the University of Arkansas. Her poems are published or forthcoming in jubilat, the Dunes Review, and Fogged Clarity. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor at the Arkansas International.
Poetic arts fest by Reality Hands + Pizza Pi Press
Featuring showcases from Peach Mag + Glow Worm Press
Featuring 2 days of readings and community building
Come meet, hang out with, and support artists in your community.
Both days begin with a book fair from 1-3.
Readings run from 3-9:30 on Saturday, 3-9:45 on Sunday
Party after on both days!
$10. Get tix at the door or at: http://www.realityhands.com/products/clouds-and-other-louds-ticket
