Poet Safia Jama reads for the October 6 Red Door Reading Series. Readings are held in person but we will Livestream the reading for those who wish to attend remotely on Saint Mark's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stmarksjh [2]. Jama will read a single poem, followed by a ten-minute silent meditation, and will close with a second reading of the same poem. 

Safia Jama was born to a Somali father and an Irish American mother in Queens, New York. A Cave Canem graduate fellow, she has published poetry in Ploughshares, RHINO, Cagibi, Boston Review, Spoken Black Girl, and No Dear. Her poetry has also been featured on WNYC’s Morning Edition and CUNY TV’s Shades of US series. Jama was a semifinalist in the Pleiades Press Editors Prize for Poetry and she is the author of “Notes on Resilience,” included in the New-Generation African Poets chapbook box set, an African Poetry Book Fund project, edited by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani, released through Akashic Books (May 2020).

2021-2022 season has been curated by Philip F. Clark, Jared Harel, Spencer Reece, and KC Trommer. Our readings will take place twice a month beginning in October. We will be selling limited-edition broadsides to support the series at $10 each. The broadsides have been designed by John Candell and will feature artwork from our curators.