colonialism

Martín Espada reads from Trumpets from the Islands of their Eviction (1987), Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover's Hands (1990), and City of Coughing and Dead Radiators (1993).

Craig Santos Perez engages the audience with several performance pieces incorporating poems from his book from unincorporated territory [guma']  (2014). This reading was originally given with Yona Harvey as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

John A. Williams reads poems from an early manuscript that would eventually come to form his collection Safari West (1998). He then reads from his novel !Click Song (1982), investigating issues of race, colonialism, and diaspora. Both books are winners of the American Book Award.

Leslie Marmon Silko reads from her poems and fiction, including excerpts from Almanac of the Dead (1991) and Storyteller (1981). She also performs traditional oral stories.

Farid Matuk reads poems from The Real Horse (2018), along with one poem, "Scale Up," that would later appear in the award-winning artist book, Redolent (2022), a collaboration between Matuk and visual artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez. This reading was originally given with Jane Miller.

Charif Shanahan reads from his second collection of poetry, Trace Evidence (2023), which considers mixed-race identity and the construction of race alongside the struggle to find and make meaning in one's life.

Edgar Garcia reads from his manuscript Cantares Mexicanos, a series of translations, adaptations, and re-imaginings of the 16th century book of the same name, which collects Nahuatl-language songs. This reading was given as part of the Letras Latinas 20th Anniversary Reading with Gina Franco and Sheila Maldonado.