Join us for the first ever student-led installment of our popular WAX POETICS series! In this listening session, co-curated by Woodberry Poetry Room undergraduate staff Victoria Amani Mwaniki Kishoiyian and Tess Wayland, we’ll immerse in a selection of recordings made during the flourishing of the Black Arts Movement: Gwendolyn Brooks, Reading Her Poetry (Caedmon, 1969); Nikki Giovanni, Like a Ripple on a Pond (Niktom Records, 1973); June Jordan, Things That I Do in the Dark and Other Poems (Spoken Arts, 1978); and Sonia Sanchez, A Sun Lady For All Seasons Reads Her Poetry (Folkways, 1971). Interspersed between selections from the recordings, we’ll hear short reflective speeches penned by undergraduates in the Association of Black Harvard Women, WHRB 95.3 FM, and the Black Arts Collective, an organization that pays homage to BAM.

The listening session will be followed by a live performance of Nina Simone songs and a reception, in which guests will have the opportunity to immerse more deeply in the recordings or to browse the poets’ books at stations throughout the room.

Come one, come all to this evening of collective listening and communing, in which we celebrate some of the most enlivening and committed voices of the Black Arts Movement.

In-Person Attendance: This event will take place at the Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library, Room 330. Free and open to the public.

Please contact us with any questions about this event. We can be reached by email at poetryrm@fas.harvard.edu or via phone at (617) 495-2454. We encourage persons with disabilities who would like to request accommodations or have questions about physical access to contact Houghton Library at least three days in advance of the reading.