Poetry off the Shelf: Drinking Gourd: Poetry, Song, Dance

Join us for a celebration of words, music, and dance as we help launch The Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize Chapbook Series. Renowned poet Ed Roberson, author of eight books of poetry and winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, joins poet and playwright Kristiana Rae Colón, winner of the inaugural Drinking Gourd Prize. The evening will include readings from Roberson’s Closest Pronunciation and Colón’s promised instruments; live vocal performances of the great coded songs of the Underground Railroad and other African-American spirituals by Timothy McNair, bass at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University; and contemporary dance with original choreography by Devin Buchanan of Giordano Dance Chicago.

The Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize is a first-book award for emerging poets of color, combining the efforts of Northwestern’s Poetry and Poetics Colloquium and Northwestern University Press in celebrating and publishing works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence. For more information visit poetry.northwestern.edu.