The Green Way Reading Series is a monthly literary event based in Takoma Park, MD curated by Elizabeth Bryant and Takoma Park’s Poet Laureate Taylor Johnson. The series centers emerging and established poets and artists in interdisciplinary, intergenerational and cross-regional dialogues. We want these programs to encourage growing participation and local engagement in the evolving landscape of contemporary poetry.

Jalynn Harris is a poet, educator, editor, and press founder from Baltimore, MD. She founded SoftSavagePress for the sole purpose of promoting visual and literary works by Black people. Her work has been featured in The Best American Poetry 2022, Poets.org, The Hopkins Review, Feminist Studies, and elsewhere.

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, was named among the “Best Poetry of the Last Year” by Ms. Magazine, and was selected as a New York Public Library Best Book of 2023. She is editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry; and author of Blue Hallelujahs. Manick has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell Colony, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For 10 years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that promoted poetry as storytelling and featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer prize winners. Her poem “Things I Carry Into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems, an organization dedicated to video poetry, and has debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. A storyteller and performer at literary festivals, libraries, universities, and museums, Manick’s work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus and other outlets. She currently serves on the editorial board of Alice James Books. She lives in New York, but travels widely for poetry.

Rasheed Copeland is the author of The Book of Silence: Manhood As a Pseudoscience (Sergeant Press, 2015). A multiple recipient of the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Award, he is a native of Washington, D.C.

If you want to purchase the book online and still support People’s Book, follow the link below:

https://bookshop.org/a/101932/9780063244306

This is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first come first serve seating. Accessible seating is always available.

Three poets celebrate Black womanhood, weaving joy and elegy together in their verse. In Makeshift Altar, Amy M. Alvarez urges “Let survivor’s bones grow fat with sweet.” Cynthia Manick declares in No Sweet Without Brine, “I want us living, not just alive.” “I am done telling the kinder story. I am a myth of my own making,” January O’Neill tells us in Glitter Road.

Visit https://www.vabook.org/events/2024/03/soul-in-celebration/ for more information

Amy M. Alvarez is the author of Makeshift Altar and the co-editor of Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology. She has been awarded fellowships from CantoMundo, VONA, Macondo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. In July of last year, she was inducted as an Affrilachian Poet. Selected as one of 2022’s Best New Poets, her work has appeared in nationally and internationally recognized literary journals including Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, Rattle, Colorado Review, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. Amy was born in New York City to Jamaican and Puerto Rican parents. She taught English, History, and Humanities courses at public high schools in the Bronx, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts. She currently teaches at West Virginia University.

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine, which received five stars from Roxane Gay and was selected as a New York Public Library Best Book of 2023; editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry; and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For ten years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that promoted poetry as storytelling and featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Her poem “Things I Carry into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems and has debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. A storyteller and performer at literary festivals, libraries, universities, and museums, Manick’s work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus and other outlets. She currently serves on the editorial board of Alice James Books. She lives in New York but travels widely for poetry.

January Gill O’Neil is an associate professor at Salem State University and the author of Glitter Road, Rewilding, Misery Islands, and Underlife. From 2012—2018, she served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Her poems and articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day series, American Poetry Review, Poetry, and Sierra magazine, among others. Her poem, “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial,” was a co-winner of the 2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry award from the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. She currently serves as the 2022—2024 board chair of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). A Virginia native, O’Neil earned her BA from Old Dominion University and her MFA from New York University. She lives in Beverly, MA.

Poetry Today: Writing in the Modern World | Jessica Abughattas, Raymond Antrobus and Cynthia Manick | Moderated by: Karisma Price

Jessica Abughattas is the author of Strip, winner of the 2020 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, selected by Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in POETRY, Guernica, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. 

Raymond Antrobus MBE FRSL was born in London, Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father. He is the author of Shapes & Disfigurements (Burning Eye, 2012) To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press, 2017), The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins / Tin House, 2018) and All The Names Given (Picador / Tin House, 2021). In 2019 he became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre. Other accolades include the Ted Hughes Award, Lucille Clifton Legacy Award, PBS Winter Choice, A Sunday Times Young Writer of the year Award, Somerset Maugham Award and The Guardian Poetry Book Of The Year 2018, as well as a shortlist for The Griffin Prize, T.S. Eliot Prize and Forward Prize. In 2018 he was awarded The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, (Judged by Ocean Vuong), for his poem Sound Machine. Also in 2019 and 2021 his poems (Jamaican British, The Perseverance and Happy Birthday Moon) was added to the UK’s GCSE syllabus. He is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Complete Works 3, Jerwood Compton and the Royal Society of Literature. He is also one of the world's first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word education from Goldsmiths University. His poems have been published in POETRY, Poetry Review, Lit Hub, News Statesman, The Deaf Poets Society, among others.

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry, winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry, and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell Colony, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For 10 years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that promoted poetry as storytelling and featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer prize winners. Manick’s poem “Things I Carry into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems and debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. A storyteller at literary festivals, libraries, and museums, her work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus and other outlets. She currently serves on the editorial board of Alice James Books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York but travels widely for poetry.

Savage Gollner Stage | Diboll Gallery

Cynthia Manick reads from her recently released collection No Sweet Without Brine, alongside poets and friends of the store Anastacia-Renee, Amber Flame, and Luther Hughes.

Amber Flame is an interdisciplinary artist whose work garnered residencies with Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and more. Her first poetry collection, Ordinary Cruelty, was published through Write Bloody Press, and her second, apocrifa, was published by Red Hen Press. Flame is a recipient of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture’s CityArtist grant and served as Hugo House's 2017–2019 Writer-in-Residence for Poetry. Flame’s work featured in Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19. She is Program Director for Hedgebrook, a residency for women-identified writers. Amber Flame is a queer Black dandy in Tacoma, Washington, who falls hard for a jumpsuit and some fresh kicks.

Luther Hughes (they/them) is the author of A Shiver in the Leaves (BOA Editions, 2022), listed as best books of 2022 in The New Yorker, and the chapbook, Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018), recommended by the American Library Association. They are the founder of Shade Literary Arts, an organization for queer writers of color, and cohosts The Poet Salon Podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowship and the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, they received their MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Their writing has been published in The Paris Review, Orion, American Poetry Review, and others. They’ve been featured in The Seattle Times, Forbes, Essence, KUOW Public Radio, The Slowdown, and more. Luther lives in Seattle, where they were born and raised.

Anastacia-Reneé is an award-winning cross-genre queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDX speaker and former Seattle Civic Poet. She is the author of Side Notes from the Archivist, (v.), and Forget It. Her mixed media art has been exhibited at the Fry Art Museum and her installation, “Don’t Be Absurd (Alice in Parts),” was chosen by NBC as one of the “Queer Artist of Color Must See LGBTQ Arts Shows.” She has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Ragdale, Mineral School and others. Reneé’s poetry, fiction and nonfiction has been anthologized and published widely. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

1455’s Founding Director Sean Murphy will speak with Cynthia about this book and the craft of poetry, followed by a Q&A.

More information: https://1455litarts.org/1455-author-series-featuring-cynthia-manick/

We are starting another banner year of great poetry. Brownstone Poets is back on Saturday, January 27 at 2 pm ET. Our featured readers for Saturday, January 27 at 2pm ET

JP. Howard

Cynthia Manick

Tantra-Zawadi

Plus a limited open mic. Your $5 contribution keeps our annual anthology in print. Hosted by Patricia Carragon, our Brooklyn girl and Editor-in-Chief.

Please follow these instructions:

Step 1: Make your $5 contribution: https://bit.ly/3bkqFmO

Thank you for your $5 contribution, which keeps our annual anthology in print and pays for our features.

Step 2: Register in advance for this meeting: https://bit.ly/3hnpy8D

Step 3: After making your contribution and completing your registration, you will receive a confidential confirmation email containing your unique link to join the event.

Looking forward to seeing you at our reading!

A screening of GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT, followed by a conversation with Cynthia Manick, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry and Poets House Executive Director Rob Arnold

Screening presented as part of the Alfred P. Sloan Science on Screen® series, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theater, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Poets House is a comfortable, accessible place for poetry - a library and meeting place which invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Poets House seeks to document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, to stimulate dialogue on issues of poetry in culture, and to cultivate a wider audience for the art. Located at 10 River Terrace in NYC.

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry, and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Château de la Napoule. A storyteller at literary festivals, libraries, universities, and most recently the Brooklyn, Frye, and Rubin museum’s, Manick’s work has been featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus, and other outlets. She lives in Brooklyn, New York but travels widely for poetry.

Rob Arnold is a Chamoru poet and literary leader with two decades of experience in publishing and related positions, most recently as Interim Executive Director of Hugo House. He previously co-founded the literary journal Memorious, and worked with Ploughshares, Fence Books, Beacon Press, PEN New England, The National Poetry Series, the National Endowment for the Arts, Grid Books, and as an agent for Aevitas Creative Management. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Hyphen, Gettysburg Review, Poetry Northwest, RED INK, Yes Poetry, The Ocean State Review, Peripheries, and The Volta, among others. Rob has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received support from the Somerville Arts Council, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and Artist Trust.

Tickets can be bought at https://my.filmforum.org/going-to-mars/32905 Use code POETSHOUSE for a discount!

Join us for a Free reading with poet, storyteller, and performer Cynthia Manick as she sits down with Jenn Baker to discuss her new work. 

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry, winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry, and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell Colony, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For 10 years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that promoted poetry as storytelling and featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer prize winners. Manick’s poem “Things I Carry into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems and debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. A storyteller at literary festivals, libraries, and museums, her work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day, the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus and other outlets. She currently serves on the editorial board of Alice James Books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York but travels widely for poetry.try.

Jenn Baker is a publishing professional of 20 years, the creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and a faculty member of the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at Bay Path University and a writing consultant at Baruch College. Formerly a contributing editor to Electric Literature, she received a 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship and a Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant for Nonfiction Literature. Her essay "What We Aren't (or the Ongoing Divide)" was listed as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2018. In 2019, she was named Publishers Weekly Superstar for her contributions to inclusion and representation in publishing. Jennifer is also the editor of the all PoC-short story anthology Everyday People: The Color of Life (Atria Books, 2018) and the author of the YA novel Forgive Me Not (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023). She has volunteered with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books and I, Too Arts Collective, and spoken widely on topics of inclusion, the craft of writing/editing, podcasting, and the inner-workings of the publishing industry. Her fiction, nonfiction, and criticism has appeared in various print and online publications. Her website is: jennifernbaker.com.

Presented by the Creative Writing Program at the Schools of Public Engagement.

RSVP https://event.newschool.edu/forumcynthiamanickfall23

Discovering an Origin Story or Creation Myth 

What elements or connections frame how we see ourselves in the mirror? Everyone has an origin story. It can be real, fantastical, rooted in body, or rooted in myth. It can also be a combination of all these things as we think about connection to the universe and each other. In this 35 min workshop, we’ll look at poems by Tina Chang, Ada Limon, Joy Harjo, and Airea D. Mathews to discover where you begin. Participants will generate their own creation myths and origin stories.

Sunday Reading Series: Poetry, Prose, & Cocktails is a monthly, free reading series, hosted by Simone Muench and Kenyatta Rogers. It was launched by Simone Muench during the summer of 2018 at the defunct Dannys Tavern and moved location to Hungry Brain that same year.

September Shows: Cynthia Manick, Courtney Le Blanc, Jesse Fleming & Guests

Free RSVP : https://www.sundayreadingseries.com/events/cynthia-manick-courtney-le-blanc-jesse-fleming-guests

A Literary Lawn Party

Each August, the Mississippi Book Festival unites readrs and authors in an exhilarating celebration of books.

The Capitol’s stately rooms and nearby Galloway Church turn into venues for distinguished panelists, the streets in-between transform into a bustling marketplace for booksellers, and the grounds and Capitol Rotunda become a hub of lively exchange. FREE AND OPEN TO ALL, the festival brings the written word to fun, festive life with authors, panel discussions, book signings, family-friendly activities, food trucks, live music, and more!

Full author list coming soon https://msbookfestival.com/authors/panelists

Join Cynthia Manick, Steven Leyva, Jose Olivarez, & Shaina Jones for a night of poetry in the park! https://bryantpark.org/activities/reading-room

The Wrexham Road Reading Series brings together writers from within and beyond the Sarah Lawrence College community. We're looking forward to hosting authors Barbara Joseelsohn, Cynthia Manick, Helen Schulman, and Priyanka Taslim. Join us at the beautiful Remy Theater to celebrate new books from these four writers across poetry and fiction. All are welcome!

Free & open to the Public. RSVP here

No Sweet Without Brine is both a soulful and celebratory collection that summons sticky sweet memories with an acrid aftertaste of deep thought. Satisfying moments are captured in odes to Idris Elba's dulcet tones on a meditation app and the satisfaction of half-priced Entenmann's poundcake; in childlike observations of parental Black love, the coveted female form on Jet Magazine covers, and the desire for Zamunda to be a real place full of Black joy. The sour taps into an analysis of reclusiveness, silencing catcalls from men on the street, and detailed recipes and advice to the Black girls forced to endow themselves with armor against the world.

Manick will be in conversation with Tafisha A. Edwards & Steven Leyva.

Tafisha A. Edwards. Edwards is author of two chapbooks: In the Belly of the Mirror (Telemagenta Press, 2021) and The Bloodlet (Phantom Books, 2016) winner of the Breitling Chapbook Prize. Her collection Asunder was a finalist for the 2022 The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of a 2021 Rubys Artist Grant and a 2022 Maryland State Arts Council Regional Artist Award. Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Apogee Journal, Poetry Northwest, Washington Square Review, Winter Tangerine and other print and online publications.

Steven Leyva was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in Houston, Texas. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in 2 Bridges Review, Scalawag, Nashville Review, jubilat, Vinyl, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Poetry 2020. He is a Cave Canem fellow and author of the chapbook Low Parish and author of The Understudy’s Handbook which won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. Steven holds an MFA from the University of Baltimore, where he is an assistant professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design.

https://www.politics-prose.com/cynthia-manick

This event is free with first come, first served seating.