gender

Juan Felipe Herrera performs his poetry and speaks movingly about song, language, and family in a reading given alongside Sherwin Bitsui for the 2009 Tucson Festival of Books. Herrera's Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems, published by the University of Arizona Press, was announced as the winner of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award just two days prior to this reading.

Rebecca Seiferle reads a long sequence, "On the Island of Bones," from her poetry collection Wild Tongue (2007). This reading for the 2009 Tucson Festival of Books was originally given alongside Demetria Martínez.

Anne Waldman discusses and reads from two recent projects, Manatee/Humanity and the Chax Press chapbook Matriot Acts. This reading was given alongside Laynie Browne for the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books.

Alice Notley reads from Reason and Other Women (2010).

Pat Mora reads from her first two books of poems, Chants (1984) and Borders (1986), as well as poems that would later be published, sometimes in different versions, in Communion (1991) and Agua Santa (1997). Mora, who hails from El Paso, includes several poems about the desert in honor of what she describes as "probably the first time I have done a reading in another desert area."

TC Tolbert reads from his recent Kore Press publication Territories of Folding, accompanied by members of the movement improvisation group Movement Salon.

Charles Alexander provides a close reading of Emily Dickinson's work, focusing on the way metrical and sonic qualities transform into poetic dance.

At the 2012 Poetry Off the Page Symposium, Black Took Collective presents a multimedia performance exploring interrogations of a Black unconscious, using written and aural language, sound, video, and image.

Marilyn Hacker reads from Squares and Courtyards (2000), Taking Notice (1980), and Going Back to the River (1990). She also reads two poems that would later be published in Desesperanto (2003). This reading was originally given with Aleida Rodríguez.

Gloria E. Anzaldúa reads widely from her extensive body of work; this reading includes uncollected and unpublished poems.

Samuel Ace reads poems from Stealth (2011) as well as new and uncollected work. This reading was originally given with Polly Rosenwaike and Dexter L. Booth.

Maggie Nelson reads excerpts from Bluets (2009) and The Art of Cruelty (2011), as well as new work. This reading was given as part of the Hybrid Writing Series, co-sponsored by the UA Prose Series.

Aurelie Sheehan reads from Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories (2013). This reading was originally given with Farid Matuk.

CAConrad reads poems from The Book of Frank (2009), A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics (2012), and Translucent Salamander: A (Soma)tic Poetry Ritual and Resulting Poems (2013), along with new and uncollected work.

Tillie Olsen reads excerpts from Tell Me a Riddle (1961), her collection of short stories; Yonnondio: From the Thirties (1974), an unfinished novel; and the classic work of nonfiction, Silences (1978). Olsen's reading is interspersed with anecdotes and narrative summaries.

In this artists' talk, photographer Seamus Murphy and journalist/poet Eliza Griswold discuss their experiences in Afghanistan and the poems and photographs featured in the exhibition Shame Every Rose: Images from Afghanistan. This exhibition, which traveled to the Poetry Center courtesy of the Poetry Foundation of Chicago, featured photographs presented in pairs to echo the couplet form of the landay, an oral folk poetry created by and for the Pashtun women who span the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The landays featured in this exhibit also appear in the June 2013 issue of Poetry magazine, as well as in the anthology I Am The Beggar of The World (2014).

Monique Wittig and Sande Zeig read for the Writers At Work Series. Wittig and Zeig team to play the parts of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in a play written by Wittig and translated by Zeig, Le Voyage sans fin (The Constant Journey, 1985), based on Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel. Before performing the play, Wittig gives a brief talk explaining the role of transposition and gender roles in her adaption of Cervantes's work.

Phillip Lopate reads essays from Getting Personal (2003) and Portrait Inside My Head (2013), as well as one uncollected essay. 

Rachel Zucker reads from an unpublished manuscript tentatively titled "Sound Machine."

Khadijah Queen reads from her collections Conduit (2008), Black Peculiar (2011), and Fearful Beloved (2015); she also shares drawings, photos, and video and sound clips. This reading was given as part of the Spectacular Poetics series. 

Fenton Johnson reads from his novel The Man Who Loved Birds (2016). This reading was originally given with Brian Blanchfield. 

At the 2017 Thinking Its Presence Conference, members of the MT+NYC Collaborative (Ciara Rose Griffin, William F. Hubbard, Kendra Mylnechuk, Aja M. Sherrard, and Brooke Swaney) perform an early draft of The Buffalo Play, a play written by Ciara Rose Griffin and Kendra Mylnechuk. 

Sylvia Chan reads poems from her collection We Remain Traditional (2018). This reading was originally given with Francisco Cantú and Thomas Mira y Lopez.

Cherríe Moraga reads excerpts from her memoir Native Country of the Heart (2019).

Joseph O. Legaspi reads poems from his collections Imago (2007) and Threshold (2017) as well as two uncollected poems. This reading was originally given alongside Javier Zamora and Kim Addonizio at the Center for Creative Photography. 

T Clutch Fleischmann reads new work as well as excerpts from their book Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through (2019). This reading was originally given with Andrea Lawlor as part of the UA Prose Series.

Andrea Lawlor reads excerpts from their novel Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (2017). This reading was originally given alongside T Clutch Fleischmann as part of the UA Prose Series.