This free, participatory event (taking place via Zoom) features M. NourbeSe Philip, one of our favorite poets, leading an intimate, virtual group reading-through/thinking through of Kamau Brathwaite's "Bermudas." Neither explicitly teaching nor explaining, our special guest poet will serve as your expert tour-guide to explore the featured poem as a group.

Whether already well-versed in the “close reading” of poems or having never been quite sure you've been "getting it," CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE provides a digital gathering for taking a refreshing deep dive into poetry.

The event will last about an hour and conclude with a brief reading of poetry by our special guest poet.

Born in Tobago, M. NourbeSe Philip is an unembedded poet, essayist, novelist, playwright and independent scholar who lives in the space-time of Toronto where she practiced law for seven years before becoming a writer. Among her published works are the seminal She Tries Her Tongue; Her Silence Softly Breaks; the speculative prose poem Looking for Livingston: An Odyssey of Silence; the young adult novel, Harriet’s Daughter; the play, "Coups and Calypsos," and four collections of essays, including her most recent, BlanK. Her book-length poem, Zong!, is a conceptually innovative, genre-breaking epic, which explodes the legal archive as it relates to slavery. Among her awards are the prestigious Chalmers Award, the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Casa de las Americas Prize, the Lawrence Foundation Prize, the Arts Foundation of Toronto Writing and Publishing Award and Dora Award finalist. Her fellowships include Guggenheim, McDowell, and Rockefeller (Bellagio). She is an awardee of both the YWCA Woman of Distinction (Arts) and the Elizabeth Fry Rebels for a Cause awards. She is the 2020 recipient of PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.

Toward opening new possibilities, The Flow Chart Foundation explores poetry and the interrelationships of various art forms as guided by the legacy of American poet John Ashbery and promotes engagement with his work.