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“These poems can’t make history vanish, but they can contend against it with the force of a restorative imagination. Smith’s work is about that imagination—its role in repairing and sustaining communities, and in making the world more bearable.” —The New Yorker
Poet, performer, and multidisciplinary artist Danez Smith has galvanized diverse communities nationwide with their profound contemplations on race and gender, desire and mortality. For this pre-recorded virtual evening of word, sound, and image Smith and the Dark Noise Collective reflect on friendship and community, love and loss in this fractured era.
The exclusive online presentation premieres Friday, March 26, at 7 pm. The virtual performance is available to view through Monday, March 29. A live Q&A with the artists and audience will follow the online premiere.
The St. Paul–based artist will premiere new work inspired by the poems of his latest book Homie and will digitally host a showcase of poignant performance and poetry videos from the Dark Noise Collective. The close-knit Collective includes local and national artists whose work spans poetry, music, dance, and performance, including Chicago-based singer/composer Jamila Woods and poet/filmmaker Fatimah Asghar, along with Franny Choi, Nate Marshall, and Aaron Samuels.
Presented in association with Graywolf Press. Contains mature content.
About Danez Smith
Danez Smith is a writer and performer from St. Paul, MN. They are the author of Homie, Don’t Call Us Dead, and [insert] boy. Smith is a winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award. They are also a winner of a Pushcart Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. They are the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Montalvo Arts Center, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Danez’s work has been featured widely including on Buzzfeed, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Poetry Magazine, and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Smith has been featured as part of Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list. They are a member of the Dark Noise Collective and are the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness.
About Dark Noise
Dark Noise is a nationwide, multiracial, multi-genre collective featuring some of the most exciting, insightful, and powerful poets writing today. Dark Noise is comprised of Fatimah Asghar, Franny Choi, Nate Marshall, Aaron Samuels, Danez Smith, and Jamila Woods. These poets and performers, diverse in content and form, find common ground in their commitment to using art as a site for radical truth telling. They explore themes of identity, intersectionality, trauma, and healing in accessible forms without sacrificing the highest standards of poetic craft. Dark Noise explodes archaic notions of page vs. stage with their dynamism in all arenas of verse. Dark Noise poets have been featured on film and television projects including HBO’s Brave New Voices, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and Louder than a Bomb. They are also well-published poets who have garnered honors such as Ruth Lilly Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowships, Pushcart nominations, and a host of publication awards.
How to View
Tickets are pay what you wish. View the exclusive online premiere Friday, March 26, 7 pm. The virtual performance is available to view Friday, March 26, 7 pm–Monday, March 29, 11:59 pm. Ticket sales will end on Monday, March 29 at 9 pm (all times CDT).
A live Q&A with the artists and audience will follow the online premiere on Friday, March 26. Please note: The Zoom event will not be available for later viewing. |
