Join us for an evening of new fiction works with Petra Lurch, a Kingston-born writer featured in international journals Pree and Lolwe, and Dr. Michael Datcher, New York Times bestselling author of Raising Fences and Americus. Both authors will be reading excerpts of a forthcoming short story collection and a new novel, respectively.
Join us for a reception following the readings.
Doors Open: 7:30 PM I Readings: 8:00 PM
Petra Lurch is a writer from Kingston, Jamaica. Their short stories have appeared in the international journals Pree and Lolwe and she is currently working on a novel and a short story collection. Currently, they live in Brooklyn, NY and attend Columbia University’s MFA program in Creative Writing.
Dr. Michael Datcher did his undergraduate work at UC Berkeley, his Masters at UCLA and his Ph.D. at UC Riverside in English Literature. He is the author the Ferguson-area historical novel AMERICUS (Third Is World Press) and the critically-acclaimed New York Times Bestseller RAISING FENCES (Penguin Putnam/Riverhead)—a TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB Book of the Month pick. The film rights were originally optioned by actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Productions, who hired Datcher to write the screenplay. Datcher has made many other media appearances including OPRAH. Datcher is also the author of the award-winning children’s book HARLEM AT FOUR (Random House Studio) and the Pulitzer Prize- nominated book of literary theory ANIMATING BLACK AND BROWN LIBERATION: A Theory of American Literatures (State University of New York Press). He is co-editor of TOUGH LOVE: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. Datcher’s play SILENCE was commissioned by and premiered at the Getty Museum. His writing is widely anthologized, including appearances in the volumes What Makes A Man (Penguin), Brown Sugar 3(Simon Schuster), Soulfires (Penguin), Testimony (Beacon Press), Another City (City Lights), and Body and Soul (Crown), among others. He has curated and/or presented his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hammer Museum and other art institutions. Datcher is the President of the Board of Directors at The World Stage, a literary and jazz education and performance 501.C3 nonprofit in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District. Dr. Datcher is an Associate Clinical Professor of Writing at New York University.
Livestream: If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event.
Ticket purchase is required. No one will be turned away for lack of funds! Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center.
Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers.
