Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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In this event from the 2024 Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, Danez Smith reads from their work and discusses the poetics of resistance and rebellion with Jennifer M. Wilks, director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
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“The reason I’m so terrified of what’s happening around me is because I’m so in love with the world.” In this 2023 Lost City Books virtual event, Franny Choi reads from their latest poetry collection, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (Ecco, 2023), and discusses the futurist politics of poetry, the present need for Black and Asian solidarity, and the battle between hope and despair in a conversation with Danez Smith.
Tags: Poetry | Franny Choi | The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On | Ecco | Lost City Books | Danez Smith | reading | conversation | 2023 -
In this 2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair event, National Book Award honorees Donika Kelly and Danez Smith read from their work and discuss the power of poetry for both authors and readers in a conversation moderated by the Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation.
Tags: Poetry | Danez Smith | Donika Kelly | Ruth Dickey | National Book Foundation | AWP | Seattle | 2023 -
“Soundless, it crosses a line, quiets into a seed / & then whatever makes a seed. almost like gone / but not gone. the air kept its shape.” At the 2019 Lambda Literary Retreat, Danez Smith reads “undetectable” and “say it with your whole black mouth” from their third poetry collection, Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020), which is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Danez Smith | 2019 | reading | Page One | January/February 2020 | Homie | Graywolf Press | 2020 -
“We are surreal beings.... We dream, which is the most surreal thing in the world.” Danez Smith speaks with Lauren K. Alleyne about imagination and language in this video for The Fight & The Fiddle, a publication of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University. Smith is the author of Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in poetry.
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“I’ve left Earth in search of darker planets, a solar system that revolves too near a black hole. I have left a patch of dirt in my place and many of you won’t know the difference...” Danez Smith reads his poem “Dear White America” at the 2014 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Festival. Smith’s second collection, Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), is longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award in poetry.
