Come hang with all your Black, brown, queer, radical neighbors online. Let's create Southern community right where we are—at home.

This Thursday, the latest event in Scalawag's Solidarity Over Distance web event series is a night of Black, queer poetry to create some joy in the darkness.

But the night doesn't end there! You're also invited to join us afterwards for an exclusive digital DJ dance party featuring Durham's best DJ, Gemynii. Become a member today to get the secret link the day of the show. If you're already a member, check your email the day of for details!

7:30 p.m. EST—Poetry reading centering Black, queer joy and resilience

This event is free and open to the public!

Featuring:

  • Jericho Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Writer's Award. Brown's first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (Copper Canyon 2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. His third collection is The Tradition (Copper Canyon 2019). His poems have appeared in The Bennington Review, Buzzfeed, Fence, jubilat, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME magazine, and several volumes of The Best American Poetry. He is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University.
  • Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings. Her work in this lifetime is to facilitate infinite, unstoppable ancestral love in practice. Her poetic work in response to the needs of her cherished communities have held space for multitudes in mourning and movement. Alexis has transformed the scope of intellectual, creative and oracular writing with her triptych of experimental works published by Duke University Press (Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity in 2016, M Archive: After the End of the World in 2018 and Dub: Finding Ceremony forthcoming in 2020.)
  • Taylor Johnson is proud of being from Washington, DC. They've received fellowships and scholarships from CALLALOO, Cave Canem, Lambda Literary, Tin House, the Vermont Studio Center, Yaddo, the Conversation Literary Festival,  the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference, among other organizations. In 2017, Taylor received the Larry Neal Writers' Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Their poems appear in The Baffler, Indiana Review, Scalawag, and the Paris Review, among other journals and literary magazines. Their first book, Inheritance, will be published November 2020 with Alice James Books. Taylor lives in southern Louisiana where they listen.

Register here to listen in on Thursday, 4/16 at 7:30 p.m. EST!

8:45 p.m. EST—Exclusive dance party with tunes by Gemynii

Become a member today to join in!

Artist by trade and DJ by craft, Gem produces experiences that seduce the audience and lures them into her meticulously cultivated audiovisual realm. Though she asserts herself as a sound selector or vibe curator, Gemynii an open format DJ with an extensive collection of music that represents the best of House, Clubbeats, Afrobeat Hip Hop, and old school sounds. Since the summer of 2016, Gemynii has been a resident DJ at Pinhook where she the created Conjure – The Celebration of Black & Brown Femmes. Working with local artist ZenSoFly and Mballa, Gemynii has been a part of opening up for major acts like Rico Nasty, Oshun, and Miguel. She's also been a part of festival scene performing Moogfest, A3C Fest, Art of Cool, HopScotch,and Southern Fried Queer Festival in 2018.

All current Scalawag members will receive a link in their email to join the DJ dance party an hour before it begins. Register to become a member for just $5 a month to join.