Cedric Tillman's Blog - Posts Tagged "writers-in-schools"
Hot Boy Fall? Busboys and Poets, PEN/Faulkner Writers-in-Schools, Cave Canem Reading
Work's been crazy so I'm way behind on my updates over here. On October 22, I stood in for the gracious and thoughtful María Fernanda as feature at the 14th & K Busboys and Poets in DC. Some coworkers were sweet enough to come out and I got to meet Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez (COCONUT CURLS Y CAFE CON LECHE) who was a cool host and who I will forever remember as one of the major figures in peer pressuring me to get on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ctwriter1/, btw)! I read from LILIES IN THE VALLEY and from my new collection IN MY FEELINS.
On November 25th I had the pleasure of visiting DC's Takoma Education Campus as a participating writer in the PEN/Faulkner Writers-In-Schools program for the first time at Takoma Education Campus in DC. These middle school kids, about 60 or so, were so sweet but they're not shy about asking tough questions. (For example, the "n-word" is in my LILIES, as in the title poem "Lilies In The Valley," and I was asked why I'd used that word-had to explain the context.) It was good for me to get in front of a class for the first time since my short-lived stint at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2011 and shake off a lot of rust. And I've never had the opportunity to sign so many books! I have to thank my poetry brothers Alan King and Derrick Weston Brown for insisting on the idea and Alan for giving them my info.
Finally, on December 1 I had the pleasure of reading with my Cave Canem family on a rainy Baltimore day at the Pratt Library, Dec. 1. The event was hosted by Reggie Harris of Poets House. Kyle Dargan, director of the MFA Creating Writing program at American University was the featured reader, but graciously shared his honorarium with the rest of us, including Abdul Ali, Teri Cross Davis, Alan King, Saida Agostini, and Hayes Davis. Steven Leyva of the University of Baltimore was also in attendance. This was my second year in a row participating, and it made think that I need to get about the business of getting some new work done every year if I want to participate-now that I'm so close to Baltimore by way of living in the DMV, I feel obligated to have new material when I raise my hand for these going forward...
More to come soon! I'll be reading in DC at the American Poetry Museum on Feb. 2 with fellow AU alum Steve Castro and Jane Alberdeston, at The New School with Xandria Phillips and James Cagney (Cave Canem reading), and at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on April 12. I'll post about those more as they approach.
On November 25th I had the pleasure of visiting DC's Takoma Education Campus as a participating writer in the PEN/Faulkner Writers-In-Schools program for the first time at Takoma Education Campus in DC. These middle school kids, about 60 or so, were so sweet but they're not shy about asking tough questions. (For example, the "n-word" is in my LILIES, as in the title poem "Lilies In The Valley," and I was asked why I'd used that word-had to explain the context.) It was good for me to get in front of a class for the first time since my short-lived stint at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2011 and shake off a lot of rust. And I've never had the opportunity to sign so many books! I have to thank my poetry brothers Alan King and Derrick Weston Brown for insisting on the idea and Alan for giving them my info.
Finally, on December 1 I had the pleasure of reading with my Cave Canem family on a rainy Baltimore day at the Pratt Library, Dec. 1. The event was hosted by Reggie Harris of Poets House. Kyle Dargan, director of the MFA Creating Writing program at American University was the featured reader, but graciously shared his honorarium with the rest of us, including Abdul Ali, Teri Cross Davis, Alan King, Saida Agostini, and Hayes Davis. Steven Leyva of the University of Baltimore was also in attendance. This was my second year in a row participating, and it made think that I need to get about the business of getting some new work done every year if I want to participate-now that I'm so close to Baltimore by way of living in the DMV, I feel obligated to have new material when I raise my hand for these going forward...
More to come soon! I'll be reading in DC at the American Poetry Museum on Feb. 2 with fellow AU alum Steve Castro and Jane Alberdeston, at The New School with Xandria Phillips and James Cagney (Cave Canem reading), and at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on April 12. I'll post about those more as they approach.
