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9/11 Remember Through Poetry
September 10, 2022 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
On the eve of the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, on Saturday, September 10 at 2 pm, local authors Leslie McGraw, Desirae Simmons, and Zig Zag Claybourne will hold space for healing and connection through poetry and prose readings at Booksweet. This event is free and open to the public.
At 2:15 pm, we will also create intentional space for the 215 Black Americans who lost their lives as part of the 9/11 attacks, offering a loving community remediation of the racialized erasure so often found in dominant national memorial narratives.
If the weather is nice, we’ll gather outside in Booksweet’s courtyard. Otherwise, this event will happen inside the shop (learn more about Health and Safety at Booksweet). Light refreshments from our friends and neighbors at Exotic Bakeries will be served.
RSVP and more information can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/911-remembered-through-poetry-tickets-409517918117
About the poets:
Leslie McGraw is a poet, digital media activist, and former creative inspiration and emcee of the Bookbound Open Mic & Share Poetry Series (2013-2020) and Life By Poetry online community. Her essay, “Roses Come in Black, Too” was published in the As/Us Women of the World Journal. Her debut poetry collection, Emergencies of the Heart, was published in 2014. A 2nd edition, dedicated to the 267 black lives lost on 9-11, will be released in September 2022 by Black Muse Publishing. Leslie was one of five poets chosen for the 2022 Black Fire This Time Summer National Fellowship by Willow Books in Detroit, Michigan. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @LifebyPoetry.
Desirae Simmons is a member of the local writing group “Untold Stories of Liberation and Love” and has been published in the groups’ anthology, Love & Other Futures. Desirae brings an intersectional justice lens to her writing. She helps other writers explore issues of identity and justice through writing.
Zig Zag Claybourne (also known as Clarence Young) is the author of The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan and its sequel Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe. Other works include By All Our Violent Guides, Neon Lights, and Conversations with Idras. His stories and essays have appeared in Apex, Realm, Galaxy’s Edge, GigaNotosaurus, Strange Horizons, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction, and other genre venues. He is the 2021 Kresge Foundation Literary Fellow. He grew up watching The Twilight Zone and considers himself a better person for it.