In this panel discussion moderated by former Philadelphia poet laureate Yolanda Wisher, four Philly-connected poets from different backgrounds discuss how they do business through writing, teaching, performing, consulting, and more. This panel will offer practical advice and real talk for poets anywhere about making a living through poetry, in new and old school ways.
A Q&A will follow the presentation; you can pre-submit a question when registering for the event. A recording will be made available for those who cannot attend live.
Special thanks to Blue Stoop for collaborating with the Authors Guild Foundation on this panel.
Denice Frohman is a poet, performer, and educator from New York City. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNext, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, and ESPNW. She co-organized #PoetsforPuertoRico and lives in Philadelphia.
Raina J. León, PhD is the author of Canticle of Idols, Boogeyman Dawn, sombra : (dis)locateand the chapbooks, profeta without refuge and Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self. She is a founding editor of The Acentos Review, an online quarterly, international journal devoted to the promotion and publication of Latinx arts; lead coordinator for Nomadic Press in Philadelphia; an emerging digital archivist and artist; and a senior researcher on various grants in education and literature. You can find her on all the platforms @rainaleon.
2020-2021 Philadelphia Poet Laureate Trapeta B. Mayson is the founder of Healing Verse Philly Phone Line, a hallmark project of her poet laureate tenure. Mayson is a Pew, Academy of American Poets, and Aspen Word Fellow, and also a member of several local organizations where she uses the arts to help mobilize and build community.
Originally from Bali, Indonesia, Cynthia Dewi Oka is the author of Fire Is Not a Country (2021) and Salvage (2017) from Northwestern University Press, and Nomad of Salt and Hard Water (2016) from Thread Makes Blanket Press. A recipient of the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award and the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize, she is currently Poet in Residence at the Amy Clampitt House.
Poet, singer, educator, and curator Yolanda Wisher is a two-time poet laureate, Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary, and the author of Monk Eats an Afro. She performs a blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters.
