Poets & Writers Theater

In this Poets & Writers Live virtual event, poet and scholar Clint Smith speaks about his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America (Little, Brown, 2021), with poet and novelist Destiny O. Birdsong. Smith is featured in a profile written by Birdsong in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

This Librairie Drawn & Quarterly virtual event celebrates the book launch of Lee Lai’s debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit (Fantagraphics, 2021), as the author speaks with Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch about editing, writing vignettes, and gay characters. Lai is featured in “First Fiction 2021” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I wrote this book for Black women who’ve been in those workspaces, but really anyone who’s been an other in these kind of spaces.” In this video, Zakiya Dalila Harris speaks about her debut novel, The Other Black Girl (Atria Books, 2021), and how her characters navigate through workplace politics with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America. Harris is featured in “First Fiction 2021” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Politics and Prose Bookstore video, Eric Nguyen speaks about his debut novel, Things We Lost to the Water (Knopf, 2021). Nguyen is featured in “First Fiction 2021” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“A poem is an utterly free space for language,” says Kathleen Ossip in this 2017 lecture at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. “That is what makes it indispensable to me, and also what makes it political.” Ossip’s fourth poetry collection, July (Sarabande Books, 2021), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Over time, pets become like their owners. Over time, I had become more like the fox.” In this book trailer for Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship (Spiegel & Grau, 2021), Catherine Raven reads an excerpt from her memoir, which is featured Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“She likes to lean her head against my neck. I had never wished she could speak, because we understand each other.” In this Square Books virtual event, Rivka Galchen reads from her second novel, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021), and speaks with Alexandra Kleeman about research and process. The novel is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Books Are Magic event celebrating the book launch of Ashley C. Ford’s debut memoir, Somebody’s Daughter (Flatiron Books, 2021), she talks to Jason Reynolds, who tries not to drop any spoilers. The memoir is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The most important thing for me when I was writing this book was to invite the reader along with me…it was an adventure for me.” In this episode of Shelf Analysis, host Rick O’Shea interviews Doireann Ní Ghríofa about her debut memoir, A Ghost in the Throat (Biblioasis, 2021), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. 

In this video, poet and scholar Clint Smith speaks about the historic places he visited and writes about in his new book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America (Little, Brown, 2021). A profile of Smith by Destiny O. Birdsong is featured in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I cannot say if the emptiness is / a grand celestial body or a vacuum / so complete nothing can escape.” Michael Kleber-Diggs reads from his debut poetry collection, Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions, 2021), winner of the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, and speaks with Tracy K. Smith in this celebratory virtual event. Worldly Things is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.