Poetry as Praise, Protest, & Power: A Reading & Roundtable Conversation

ABOUT THE EVENT:

This virtual event will explore poetry as a force of praise, power, and protest particularly as it relates to the Black Lives Matter movement. Featuring readings from Amanda Johnston, KB, and Sequoia Maner, the event will culminate in a roundtable discussion with the poets leading conversation and also answering audience questions.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required in order to attend. A Zoom webinar link will be shared via email at least one week before the event.

ABOUT THE POETS:

Amanda Johnston was born in East St. Louis, IL and raised in Austin, TX. She began writing poetry while living in Kentucky. Since then, her writing has been published widely and she has presented at numerous literary conferences and events. Amanda earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press). Amanda is a member of the Affrilachian Poets and has received fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation and the Austin Project at the University of Texas. Johnston is a Stonecoast MFA faculty member, a cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder / executive director of Torch Literary Arts. She serves on the Cave Canem Foundation board of directors and currently lives in Texas.

KB is a Black queer genderless poet, educator, organizer, and student affairs professional based in Austin, TX. They have earned many fellowships and publications, most notably from Lambda Literary, The Watering Hole, and Cincinnati Review. When they’re not on stage or in the page, they serve as Program Coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Artist for the Austin Library Foundation, and Founder/Lead Organizer of Interfaces. Catch them talking sweetness and other (non)human things online @earthtokb.

Sequoia Maner was a Mellon Teaching Fellow of Feminist Studies at Southwestern University from 2018-2020. She has recently joined the English department at Spelman College as an Assistant Professor. She earned her B.A. in English from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is co-editor of the book Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era (Routledge 2020). Her poem “upon reading the autopsy of Sandra Bland” was a finalist for the 2017 Gwendoly Brooks Poetry Prize. Her essays, poems, and reviews can be found in venues such as Meridians, Obsidian, The Langston Hughes Review, The Feminist Wire, Auburn Avenue, and elsewhere.