autism

Poet and singer-songwriter Brian Laidlaw performs the album Silently Loud (2023), a compilation of songs with lyrics by nonspeaking autistic songwriters set to music through collaboration between Laidlaw and the lyricists. Two Tucson lyricists whose work appears on the album, Joshua Greiner and Aulton Grubbs, respond to audience questions to conclude the event.

Matthew Zapruder reads poems from Father's Day (2019) and his forthcoming collection I Love Hearing Your Dreams (2024), many of which center on fatherhood, family life, and writing poetry. He opens and closes the reading with excerpts from his memoir Story of a Poem (2023), focused on the act of drafting and revising a poem.

Songs with lyrics written by nonspeaking autistic writers are performed by poet and singer-songwriter Brian Laidlaw. Written during recent songwriting camps and events, these original words are set to music through collaboration between Laidlaw and the writers. Several songs from the album Silently Loud, which Laidlaw performed at the Poetry Center in 2023, are also included in this performance.