Poets & Writers Theater

In this event hosted by the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College, Evie Shockley reads a selection of new poems, as well as some from her latest poetry collection, suddenly we (Wesleyan University Press, 2023), and discusses her vision for solidarity in these times in a conversation with Yona Harvey.

“I write, I free write, I type it in a computer, and then I start over from the beginning and then I add to it.” In this 2017 City of Asylum video, Yona Harvey speaks about her revision process, self-censorship, and the difference processes for writing poems, essays, and comic books. Harvey’s second poetry collection, You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love (Four Way Books, 2020), won the 2020 Believer Book Award in poetry.

Yona Harvey reads some of her poetry, talks about her artistic process, and discusses health and the body in a short film directed by Julie Sokolow. Read about the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, which Harvey cofounded with Dawn Lundy Martin and Terrance Hayes, in “A New Center for Black Poetics” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this P.O.P. series video, Douglas Kearney reads and discusses “Sound—Part 3 (Ostinato): All the World's Wars Commence in the Head” by Yona Harvey, and reads from “Tuesday Morning at Work.” The P.O.P. series was shot and edited by Rachel Eliza Griffiths in partnership with the Academy of American Poets.