Reading & Conversation: Dani Janae "Hound Triptych" (w/ Steffan Triplett)

We are grateful to welcome Dani Janae to White Whale (and back to Pittsburgh!) to celebrate the publication of her debut collection of poetry, Hound Triptych - a collection exploring Janae's decade long journey of finding her biological mother, addiction, the racial politics of adoption, first queer loves, and found family. Dani Janae will be joined in conversation with local writer, professor, and friend of White Whale, Steffan Triplett.

STEFFAN TRIPLETT is a Black, queer writer born and raised in southwest Missouri. He is the author of the hybrid memoir Bad Forecast (Essay Press) and the essay chapbook Constraints (New Michigan Press). His recent work is forthcoming or appears in Obsidian, Foglifter, Poetry Daily, and It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (Feminist Press). He is the Managing Director of the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics at the University of Pittsburgh where he is a Teaching Associate Professor and has received fellowships and support from Cave Canem, Outpost, Lambda Literary, Callaloo, the Blue Mountain Center, and Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh.

DANI JANAE is a poet and journalist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her work has been published by Longleaf Review, SWWIM, Palette Poetry, South Florida Poetry Journal, and others. Her debut collection of poetry, Hound Triptych, will be published by Sundress Publications on March 3, 2026. She lives in South Carolina.

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