Pen and Brush Presents… is a new reading series curated by Kate Angus for Pen and Brush. The series supports the work small press editors in identifying excellent writing, as well as supporting the writing itself by featuring exciting new work by established and emerging authors. Each month, “Pen and Brush Presents…” will feature readings by three writers, each one selected by editors at a press, journal, or organization with a strong female editorial presence.
Join us for the third reading of the series in our fall season, featuring the work of:
Sally Wen Mao, representing Alice James Books. Sally Wen Mao is the author of Mad Honey Symposium (Alice James Books, 2014) aPoets & Writers Top Ten Debut of 2014. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and her work is anthologized in The Best American Poetry 2013 and The Best of the Net 2014. Recent work is forthcoming or published in A Public Space, Poetry, Tin House, Black Warrior Review, jubilat, The Missouri Review, and Washington Square, among others. The recipient of fellowships and residencies from Kundiman, The Jerome Foundation, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and Saltonstall Foundation, she holds an M.F.A. from Cornell University. Mao has taught at Cornell University and Hunter College. She is a 2016-2017 Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library.
t’ai freedom ford, representing Torch Literary Arts. t'ai freedom ford is a New York City high school English teacher and Cave Canem Fellow. Her first poetry collection, "how to get over,” is forthcoming from Red Hen Press. t’ai lives and loves in Brooklyn, but hangs out digitally at shesaidword.com.
Cynthia Manick, represeting Black Lawrence Press. Cynthia Manick is the author of Blue Hallelujahs (Black Lawrence Press, 2016). A Pushcart Prize nominated poet with a MFA in Creative Writing from the New School, she has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, Fine Arts Work Center, the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences, Hedgebrook, Poets House, and the Vermont Studio Center. She serves as East Coast Editor of the independent press Jamii Publishing; and is Founder and Curator of the reading series Soul Sister Revue. Manick’s work has appeared in African American Review, Bone Bouquet, Callaloo, Human Equity Through Art (HEArt), Fjords Review, Kweli Journal, Muzzle Magazine, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Pedestal Magazine, PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, St. Ann’s Review, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Kate Angus is a founding editor of Augury Books. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Awl, Best New Poets 2010 and Best New Poets 2014. Her poetry collection, So Late to the Party, was published by Negative Capability Press in June.