For this episode of 1-Week Critique's StoryTalk, Sophia Khan, Matthew K. Schmidt, and I discussed Noel Quinoñes' "This Time and the Next," originally published in Michigan Quarterly Review. We considered incarceration, the opportunities and limitations of letters, parent-child relationships, JLo, silences, and more. Hear the episode on YouTube. 

It was a joy to join Sophia Khan and Matthew K. Schmidt for episode 35 of 1-Week Critique's StoryTalk podcast to discuss Hannah Tinti's "Home Sweet Home," published in her 2004 story collection Animal Crackers. Listen to us discuss suburban America, the nuclear family, violence, unreliable narrators, eggs, and more on YouTube. Thank you to Matthew and the 1-Week Critique team for inviting me. 

Grateful for the opportunity to celebrate Switchback Books' 20th anniversary at AWP in Baltimore! Thank you to the SBB team for inviting me, with a special shoutout to Marina Blitshsteyn and Mackenzie Carignan for all of their work organizing this beautiful event. 

It was an honor and delight to read alongside Cheryl Clark Vermeulen, M Soledad Caballero, Justine Dymond, Elizabeth Gargano, Hannah Gordon, and Jessica Jopp as part of the panel The Body in Writing at this year's Northeast Modern Language Association conference. Big thanks to Cheryl for organizing this event and bringing us together. 

For months I've been collaborating with cellist Mara Parker and dancer Jessica C. Warchal-King on a performance of dance, music and poetry informed by Philip Glass' "Songs and Poems for Solo Cello." It's been incredible creating alongside Mara and Jessica, as we responded to both Glass' Baroque repetition and each other's stylistic interpretations. If you are near Pennsylvania's Delaware County, I hope you'll join us in Widener University's Kapelski Recital Hall on March 28th at 4:00 PM for the performance. More details are available in the press release published by Broadway World.  

If AWP23 left you hungry for more readings, join me virtually this Thursday, March 16th, at 6:00 PM EST for 1-Week Critique's first Salon Reading. 1-Week Critique (1WC) is a nonprofit digital editing studio providing literary education and pedagogical support to writers everywhere. For this salon, I will be reading poems from Adelante, as well as some newer work, alongside the incredible Sandra Simonds. Thank you to 1-Week Critique for organizing!

Find me at the AWP23/the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference in Seattle this week!

I read on Thursday night for Diode Editions as part of the launch for the Beyond the Frame anthology. The reading begins at 6:00 PM at C&P Coffee (5612 California Ave SW) and also features an amazing lineup of Diode poets. Then, you can catch me reading for Switchback Books at the Switchback, Futurepoem, Action, VOLT, Jellyfish, Boa, & Everybody Reading Extravaganza on Friday night, 7:00 PM, at Bad Bar (819 5th Ave N).

Copies of Adelante will be available at the Switchback Books table in the book fair. You can also stop by and say hello on Friday from 2:00-3:00, when I'll be at the SBB table signing copies. Hope to see you there!

Grateful to my colleagues in Widener University's Wolfgram Memorial Library and Prof. Dana Reisboard for inviting me to speak on a panel about the dangers of banning books. Here's more about the event:

Lawmakers and parent groups are working to ban books that discuss historical times/events and personal lived experiences related to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community, and other marginalized groups from classrooms and libraries. Simultaneously, protections from prosecution that teachers and librarians have had are being removed. Book bans stand in opposition to the main function of education, which is to teach students to think critically and to develop their own views about the world. It is natural for books to evoke strong emotions from readers, even distasteful ones, however, it is wrong to use these feelings to restrict the right to learn for all students.  Weaponizing and politicizing books with diverse content about diverse groups restricts all students from seeing and understanding the lived experiences and worldviews of people different from themselves, stunting their education.  John Culhane, Widener University, Jessica Guzman, Widener University, Trace Reed, Montgomery County District Librarian, and Sharon Ward, Education Law Center Senior Policy Advisor will discuss the danger censorship poses to students and society. 

Join us this Monday at 12:00 PM EST for "You Can't Read This: The True Dangers of Book Bans."

As chair of the new Poetry & Poetry Studies area for the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, I hope you will see the call for proposals and consider presenting at this year's conference, which will occur virtually on November 10-12, 2022. The Poetry & Poetry Studies area welcomes presentations examining all aspect of poetry, including critical perspectives on poetic craft and creative readings of original works. Visit Penn's Call for Papers to read the full CFP. 

Almost surreal to be attending this year's conference in the city I now call home. On Thursday, March 24, I'll be signing at Switchback Books' table (1339) in the book fair from 2:00-3:00 pm. You can also find me reading at the Switchback Books, Jellyfish Magazine, and Furniture Press Books offsite reading Friday, March 25, 7:00 pm at Stir Lounge in Rittenhouse Square. And if you haven't picked up a copy of ADELANTE, it and all Switchback Books titles will be $10 at the book fair, the Smol Fair, and in their online shop. Nervous but thrilled to see friends from near and far. Will you be there? Hope to see you.