Canto-Kójo: An Open Mic and Reading Series

Come bask in the written and spoken word with us at January's Canto-Kójo open mic and reading session!

In Yorùbá the word “kojo” means “to gather”. In Spanish, “canto” means “to sing”. In our efforts to gather community together, we hope to make something new sing.

All are encouraged to bring anything they'd like to share within community, whether that be a poem, a song, a very short piece of fiction, or anything else that's on their heart! Spectators also more than welcome! :) Featured artist to be announced soon!

RSVPs are on a sliding scale pay-as-you-can basis, as we will be providing snacks! Suggested contribution is $5. Thank you!

I.S. Jones is an American/Nigerian poet, editor, essayist, and former music journalist. She is a Graduate Fellow with The Watering Hole and holds fellowships from Hedgebrook Callaloo, BOAAT Writer's Retreat, Brooklyn Poets, and Bread Loaf, where she was the 2023 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Scholar in poetry. Jones co-edited The Young African Poets Anthology: The Fire That is Dreamed Of (Agbowó, 2020) and served as the inaugural nonfiction guest editor for Lolwe. She is an editor at 20:35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry and has freelanced for Complex, Revolt TV, NBC News THINK,and elsewhere.

Yazud E. Brito-Milian (they/them) is a Chicane poet, impatient collagist, abolitionist, and eldest sister. Born in Winston-Salem, NC, and based in Chicago, IL, they are working on their first chapbook, crossfade, dedicated to their dad’s black and yellow KORG M50 and the musicians who raised them. Yazud received fellowships from The Watering Hole, Periplus, and CantoMundo. Their work can be found in Muzzle Magazine, Voicemail Poems, The Poetry Project, and Huizache Magazine.