BookPeople Presents: Torch Day Poetry Reading

Please welcome Amanda Johnston, Camari Carter Hawkins, C. Prudence Arceneaux, and Torch Literary Arts to celebrate Torch Day and Creative Writing by Black Women Authors!

This event is free and open to the public.

• Start time: 2:00 P.M.
• Run time: 45-60 minutes, followed by a signing line.
• Location: The second floor of BookPeople.

The poets will be signing and personalizing copies of their books after the speaking portion of the event.

• To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.

Bring your young readers to our Torch Day Storytime earlier in the day!

Guidelines:

• Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

• If you have any other questions, please visit our Eventbrite FAQ. If your question isn't covered in the FAQ, feel free to email us at online@bookpeople.com.
• All event guidelines are subject to change.
• BookPeople reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event if necessary.
• There will not be a live stream or recording available.

About the poets:

Camari Carter Hawkins is a poet and writer from South Central, Los Angeles. She is the author of Death by Comb (2016, World Stage Press) and guided journal Write Back to You. Camari’s works have appeared in Rise: An Anthology of Power and Unity (Vagabond Press), The Best of The Poetry Salon 2013-2018, The Dillydoun Review, Obsidian, Poets Choice, GenreUrbanArts, and elsewhere.

Camari founded Mama’s Kitchen Press ™ in 2021 while in her grandmother’s kitchen. Mama's Kitchen Press dropped into her heart while having a heartfelt conversation with her mother and grandmother. The mission of Mama’s Kitchen Press is to use storytelling to affirm our humanity™. MKP currently publishes up to 2 books a year and has a goal to double efforts with 4 to 6 full-length books and 4 youth chapbooks a year.
When she’s not writing or publishing books, she’s sitting on her patio with something cozy to drink or trying out tasty foods in Austin, TX. Connect on socials @camaricreative and www.camarihawkins.com

Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, and the 61st Poet Laureate of Texas. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter, and the editor of the poetry anthology Praisesong for the People: Poems from the Heart and Soul of Texas. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them Callaloo, Poetry Magazine, The Moth Radio Hour, Bill Moyers, The Rumpus, and the anthologies Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, American Short Fiction, and the Academy of American Poets. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder of Torch Literary Arts.

C. Prudence Arceneaux, a native Texan, is a poet who teaches English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of Proprioception, and of two chapbooks of poetry—Dirt (awarded the 2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and Liberty.

By purchasing a book from BookPeople, you are not only supporting a local, independent business – you’re showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to BookPeople.

Thank you for supporting Amanda Johnston, Camari Carter Hawkins, C. Prudence Arceneaux, Torch Literary Arts, and your local independent bookstore!