[APPLAUSE]
Hey, everybody.
Thank you so much Oh.
[LAUGHS] So thank you, Tyler, for that warm welcome.
That was really sweet.
Thank you.
And thank you everyone for joining us tonight.
I'm really excited to see everyone.
Like Tyler shared, I'm the new Event Coordinator here
at the Poetry Center.
I feel really, really lucky to be
able to work for such an amazing institution.
And really with such an amazing group of people.
And there's so many wonderful aspects of this job.
But if I'm being honest the best part of this job
is that I get to host and meet all these amazing poets.
Poets who I've been reading for my whole life.
And I was especially excited to be
able to witness Mahogany Browne's work,
live, and in person, which right now is especially exciting.
If you're familiar with Mahogany's work,
then you already know.
We're in for a really incredible night.
She's the author of recent works Chlorine Sky,
Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice,
Woke Baby, Black Girl Magic.
And like Tyler just mentioned, her recent
project I Remember Death by its Proximity to What I Love,
which is a book length poem.
Which is an expansive poetic meditation
on who we think is bound by incarceration.
She's also the Executive Director of JustMedia,
a media literacy initiative designed
to support the groundwork of criminal justice leaders
and community members.
She's also the founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke
Baby Book Fair.
And she has received fellowships from Art
for Justice, Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon
Research, and Rauschenberg.
Mahogany is also the first ever poet
in residence at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
So if you didn't know Mahogany before tonight,
brace yourselves.
Because you're about to find out.
Awesome.
Everyone please join me in welcoming
the wonderful Mahogany Browne.
[APPLAUSE]