FREE. Registration encouraged. Please register for the event here.

This year's program will feature readings by Mahogany L. Browne and Teri Ellen Cross Davis, and local Cave Canem fellows: Alan King, Derrick Weston Brown, Laura Swearingen-Steadwell, Abdul Ali, Steven Leyva, and Kateema Lee.

Hosted by Reginald Harris. Presented in partnership with CityLit Project.

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union, 2019 winner of The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize and Haint, winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She is the recipient of the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Prize, a Cave Canem fellow, and the Poetry Coordinator for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. She lives in Maryland with her husband, poet Hayes Davis and their two children.

Mahogany L. Browne is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative designed to support the groundwork of criminal justice leaders and community members. This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer, & educator. Browne has received fellowships from Agnes Gund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, & Black Girl Magic. Browne is the founder of the diverse literary campaign, Woke Baby Book Fair and is excited for the release of her latest poetry collection responding to the impact of mass incarceration on women and children: I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books). She is the first-ever Poet in Residence at the Lincoln Center and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

ASL interpretation will be available to attendees.

Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.