Name: Narrative Flow State: Open Mic, Ft. Jess Rizkallah
Start: 2025-01-16T19:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-01-16T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Narrative

Narrative Flow State: Open Mic, Ft. Jess Rizkallah

Narrative, LLC

Narrative's monthly Open Mic: All Mediums Welcome. Featured performance by Jess Rizkallah.

Narrative

Join us in a Flow State for an evening of celebrating art &amp; expression at Narrative’s Open Mic: All Mediums Welcome!-5$ credit for in-store purchase included with ticket- must be redeemed at the event and within 1 purchase.-Sign-ups to perform are 1st/come 1st serve at the event. Performer must be present in-person to sign-up.-Spoken word performances- 3 min time slot-Music/other performances- 5 min time slots-BYO equipment. Space is limited- please plan performance accordingly, minimal equipment only.-Performing is not required to attend- come join &amp; cheer on your community!-BYO bites &amp; bevs.-Respect + kindness always required @ Narrative- please be mindful of this for all work shared in this space. Featured performance by Jess RizkallahA Lebanese American writer, illustrator, spoken-word poet, and editor from Boston, Massachusetts, Rizkallah draws inspiration from her Arab heritage and identity, which infuses her poetry and illustrations with unique color. Her debut poetry collection, the magic my body becomes (The University of Arkansas Press, 2017), won the 2017 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. She is the founding editor of Pizza Pi Press. Rizkallah has been a Kundiman Fellow, a 2019 Poetry Foundation Incubator Fellow, and a 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow, and a 2019 artist in residence at the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, NC State. She earned an MFA in poetry from New York University and a BA from Lesley University.A love letter to a people as well as a fist in the air, through her debut poetry collection the magic my body becomes, Rizkallah seeks a vernacular for the inescapable middle ground of being Arab American—a space that she finds, at times, to be too Arab for America and too American for her Lebanese elders. These poems freely assert gender, sexuality, and religious beliefs while at the same time respecting a generational divide: the younger’s privilege gained by the sacrifice of the older, the impossibility of separating what is wholly hers from what is hers secondhand. In exploring family history, civil war, trauma, and Lebanon itself, Rizkallah draws from the spirits of canonical Arab and Middle Eastern poets. As a result of her conjuring, the reader feels these spirits begin to exorcise the grief of those who are still alive. Throughout, there is the body, a reclamation and pushback against cultures that simultaneously sexualize and shame women. And there is a softness as inherent as rage, a resisting of stereotypes that too often speak louder than the complexities of a resilient cultural identity. Hosted by Aparna Paul (she/her)A writer, chemical engineer, banana bread enthusiast, &amp; amateur crossword constructor, Paul performs regularly, slams sometimes, &amp; hosts the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge &amp; for Narrative's monthly Flow State: Open Mic. Her poetry &amp; prose have been recognized by Reckoning, DMQ Review, &amp; Gaining Ground, among others. She edited the anthology Reflections of The Land (Literary Cleveland, 2022) and is a co-editor of GOOD SOUP, a monthly literary/arts mail magazine (@goodsoup.mag on insta!). Her first full-length book of poetry is forthcoming with Game Over Books in 2025. Please email info@narrativebookshop.com with any questions. Further event details will be sent via email to all registered guests during the week of the event.

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Narrative Flow State: Open Mic, Ft. Jess Rizkallah

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Narrative Flow State: Open Mic, Ft. Jess Rizkallah

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