[APPLAUSE]
Hi, everyone.
Hello.
Thank you so much for joining us tonight
for such a special reading.
Like Diana said, my name is Paola,
and I'm the event coordinator here.
I work very closely with Diana to make nights
like this happen.
But tonight, I'm very lucky and very honored
to be here not just as your event coordinator, but as
the person who gets to introduce you to the wonderful Shayla
Lawz.
Whoo!
Yeah.
If you're not familiar with Shayla's work,
I beg you to buy a copy of her debut poetry
collection, speculation.
I promise you you've never read a book like this.
First thing you'll notice when you open it, aside
from the gorgeous cover, is that there's actually
instructions for viewing, which if a poem has instructions,
you already know it's going to be amazing.
Through this QR code, Shayla is able to interweave her poetry
with sound, music, and visuals--
everything from Kendrick Lamar's "XXX"
to Shayla's haunting recording, "Technical Difficulties."
Her work commands attention, while at the same time
asking you, what does it mean to pay attention?
What does it mean to be a witness?
In a time where the historical and continuous violence
against Black bodies has become easily accessible
through technology, Shayla invites
us to think critically of the way that we engage with
and consume these graphic depictions of real life
and death.
Most importantly, she speaks on the effect
that it has on those viewing their own families
and communities in this graphic media.
Ilya Kaminsky, who selected the manuscript
as the winner of the 2020 Autumn House Poetry Contest,
said, "speculation is far more than just
a collection of poems.
It is a dazzling verbal and visual performance, a concerto,
a book of our days that is as heart wrenching
as it is an accurate portrayal of what it means to live
and sing in America today.
Beyond this profound observation of America
today, speculation is an imagining,
a vision of the future."
Shayla writes, "All of these years, I wanted to survive.
Today, I want to be starlight, tomorrow, something better."
Innovative and imaginative, she is truly a poet of the future.
Shayla has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Jack Jones
Literary Arts, the Center for African American Poetry
and Poetics, the Digital Studies Center at Rutgers-Camden,
and the Hurston Wright Foundation, where
she will be the inaugural Writer in Residence at Virginia Tech.
She holds a BA in English from Rutgers University
and an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University.
Her writing and hybrid sound work
appears in McSweeney's Quarterly, Catapult, Obsidian,
"The Slowdown," and The Poetry Project, amongst others.
She has been a featured performer at Brown University,
Pratt Institute, and featured most recently
in virtual programming, including the Poetry Project's
New Year's Marathon.
speculation has been featured in Poets and Writers, the Poetry
Foundation, and NPR's "On The Record."
She's from Jersey City, New Jersey, and currently
lives in Brooklyn, where she teaches at Pratt Institute.
And we're very, very fortunate that she's
accepted our invitation to travel all the way here
to be with us tonight.
So please help me welcome Shayla Lawz.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]