In celebration of Caits Meissner’s new poetry collection, Let It Die Hungry, join us for a reading with Caits, plus special guests Ebony Stewart and Amanda Johnston.
In this world where so many things are uncertain, shaky, volatile, Let It Die Hungry does not offer easy solutions, but builds upon the idea that to affect change, one must look inward and learn from the infinities of the self before pointing our human tentacles outward. It is an inspiration for what a book can do and I argue there needs to be more literature like this, now more than ever. Literature that calls the world out, holds it in the light, and demands the reader do the work too. Oh, and did I mention the artwork? It’s pretty dope too. —M.K. Rainey, 3:AM Magazine
New York City-based Caits Meissner (center, above) is the author of the multidisciplinary poetry book Let It Die Hungry, and The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You, co-written with poet Tishon Woolcock. Her award-winning work has been widely published in journals and anthologies. Caits serves as Writer-in-Residence at Bronx Academy of Letters, facilitates classes at the transgender unit of Manhattan Detention Center and is part-time faculty at The New School University and CUNY. Her current projects include writing with ReEmergent Theatre, a company in collaboration with people emerging from prison, and you can find her touring her new book in public venues, as well as prisons across America. She is completing her MFA at City College of New York.
Ebony Stewart (left, above) is an international touring artist, poet, writer, occasional slammer. Been on some teams. Coached a lot of teams. Won a bunch of awards. Been featured in a bunch of articles, journals, and magazines. Ate a lot of cupcakes. She. Her. Woman. So black she be magic. Ebony Stewart aka The Gully Princess, story of the black girl winning.
Amanda Johnston (right, above) earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. Her poetry and interviews have appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them Kinfolks Quarterly, Muzzle, Pluck! and the anthologies Small Batch, di-ver-city and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South. The recipient of multiple Artist Enrichment grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Christina Sergeyevna Award from the Austin International Poetry Festival, she is a member of the Affrilachian Poets and a Cave Canem graduate fellow. Johnston is a Stonecoast MFA faculty member, a co-founder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founding executive director of Torch Literary Arts.