About this collection
The Poetry Coalition is a nationwide alliance of over 25 literary organizations "working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds," coordinated by the Academy of American Poets, with Poetry Coalition programs supported at present by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each March, beginning in 2017, organizations across the U.S. organize programs on a shared theme of social importance.
For 2017, our four distinct Poetry Center programs were each presented under the heading Poetry & Migration; for 2018, with the theme Poetry & The Body, Jackie Wang debuted her work Carceral Capitalism, at two public events alongside friend and fiction writer Lily Hoang; for 2019's Poetry & Democracy thematic, Brandon Shimoda was joined by Japanese artist Aisuke Kondo, each with new work focused on their grandfathers' forced incarceration as Japanese Americans; for our 2020 program, under the heading "I am deliberate / and afraid / of nothing"—Poetry & Protest, we presented "In Honor of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker," six women poets and artists addressing Lorde's and Parker's lives and work: Judy Grahn, Jewelle Gomez, Avotcja, Arisa White, Leila Weefur, and Angela Hume, prefaced by excerpts from The Poetry Center's 1986 reading by Lorde and Parker at the San Francisco Women's Building.
Under the rubric Poetry & Environmental Justice, in 2021 we hosted poets Ed Roberson, Tiffany Higgins (presenting indigenous Brazilian poet Marcia Kambeba, with Higgins' translations), and Lehua M. Taitano, each presenting new work addressing multiple perceptions of our present and ongoing environmental crisis; and in 2022, for our Poetry & Disability Justice program, together with the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at SF State, we presented Krip-Hop Nation: with Leroy F. Moore Jr., founder of the organization, co-founder Keith Jones, and three other outstanding Krip-Hop affiliated artists — Toni Hickman, DJ Quad, and Wheelchair Sports Camp — joining in performance and conversation.
For 2017, our four distinct Poetry Center programs were each presented under the heading Poetry & Migration; for 2018, with the theme Poetry & The Body, Jackie Wang debuted her work Carceral Capitalism, at two public events alongside friend and fiction writer Lily Hoang; for 2019's Poetry & Democracy thematic, Brandon Shimoda was joined by Japanese artist Aisuke Kondo, each with new work focused on their grandfathers' forced incarceration as Japanese Americans; for our 2020 program, under the heading "I am deliberate / and afraid / of nothing"—Poetry & Protest, we presented "In Honor of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker," six women poets and artists addressing Lorde's and Parker's lives and work: Judy Grahn, Jewelle Gomez, Avotcja, Arisa White, Leila Weefur, and Angela Hume, prefaced by excerpts from The Poetry Center's 1986 reading by Lorde and Parker at the San Francisco Women's Building.
Under the rubric Poetry & Environmental Justice, in 2021 we hosted poets Ed Roberson, Tiffany Higgins (presenting indigenous Brazilian poet Marcia Kambeba, with Higgins' translations), and Lehua M. Taitano, each presenting new work addressing multiple perceptions of our present and ongoing environmental crisis; and in 2022, for our Poetry & Disability Justice program, together with the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at SF State, we presented Krip-Hop Nation: with Leroy F. Moore Jr., founder of the organization, co-founder Keith Jones, and three other outstanding Krip-Hop affiliated artists — Toni Hickman, DJ Quad, and Wheelchair Sports Camp — joining in performance and conversation.
Contact
THE POETRY CENTER
Steve Dickison, director
Elise Ficarra, associate director
For questions or comments about The Poetry Center or holdings in The Poetry Center Digital Archive:
Email: poetry@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-2227
Website: https://poetry.sfsu.edu