Because Blackness Like Poetry Means Many Things: Celebrating Cave Canem

Celebrate Cave Canem with exceptional readings by Cave Canem fellows Samiya Bashir, Eisa Davis, Ruth Ellen Kocher and avery r. young. This celebration's theme, “Blackness like poetry means many things,” draws from Terrance Hayes’s 2016 speech at the National Book Awards, when Cave Canem won the Literian Award. Bashir is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Field Theories (Nightboat Books, 2017), of which Major Jackson notes, "each poem makes a spectacular event of artful speech that dances on the ridgeline of this brilliant poets’ history, heart, and intellect." Davis is a writer, actor, playwright and singer-songwriter whose play, Bulrusher, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Kocher is the author of several books of poetry. Of her most recent, Third Voice (Tupelo Press, 2016), Publisher Weekly says "The dramatic voices that operate throughout act as a reminder that history is a fragmented reality with many angles, not simply a linear series of indisputable facts." Young is a 3Arts Awardee and widely published multidisciplinary artist who mentors youth in creative writing and theater. This event is hosted by the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics at the University of Pittsburgh (CAAPP) and the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.

For tickets, audience members are encouraged to pay what makes you happy, either in advance or at the door. For questions or concerns please contact Lauren Russell, Assistant Director of CAAPP, at [email protected] or (412) 383-5954.