As an African American Muslim woman, Aisha Sharif's work explores how racial, gender, and religious identities align, separate and blend. Her poem, "Why I Can Dance Down a Soul Train Line in Public and Still Be Muslim" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2015. Sharif's poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Tidal Basin Review, Callaloo, Calyx, Rattle and other literary journals. She is a Cave Canem fellow who earned her MFA at Indiana University, Bloomington. She teaches English at Metropolitan Community College in Lee's Summit, Mo.
Susan Whitmore is the author of four poetry collections: Your House is Floating, The Melinda Poems, The Invisible Woman and The Sacrifices. Recent work has appeared in Georgetown Review, Glassworks, I-70 Review, Melusine, New Letters, Poet Lore and Stone Highway, among other journals. Whitmore has a BA from Vassar and an MFA from Emerson. She taught creative writing and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri-Kansas City for 10 years and was executive director of The Writers Place for five years. She is currently President & CEO at First Call.
This event features music by Saffie Bettis.