We're so excited to be hosting these three tremendous poets! Don't miss your chance to hear original work by t’ai freedom ford, Bettina Judd, and Imani Sims. 

*Please note that the start time is earlier than usual (at 5:00 pm). 

Bios:

t’ai freedom ford is a New York City high school English teacher, Cave Canem Fellow and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in No, Dear, The African American Review, Gulf Coast, Vinyl, Muzzle, RHINO, Poetry and others. Her work has also been featured in several anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. In 2012 and 2013, she completed two multi-city tours as a part of a queer women of color literary salon, The Revival. In 2014, she was the winner of The Feminist Wire’s inaugural poetry contest judged by Evie Shocklee. She was a 2015 Center for Fiction Fellow and the Poetry Project’s 2016 Emerge-Surface-Be Poetry fellow. Winner of the 2015 To the Lighthouse Poetry Prize, her first poetry collection, how to get over is available from Red Hen Press. t’ai lives and loves in Brooklyn, but hangs out digitally at: shesaidword.com

Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, and performer whose research focus is on Black women's creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop Black feminist thought. Her collection ofpoems on the history of medical experimentation on Black women titled Patient won the 2013 Black Lawrence Press Hudson Book Prize. She is currently Assistant Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Imani Sims is a fine wine and bourbon loving Seattle native who spun her first performance poem at the age of fourteen. She believes in the healing power of words and the transformational nuance of the human story. Imani works to empower youth and adults through various writing courses and interdisciplinary shows all over the nation. Her book (A)live Heart is available on Sibling Rivalry Press