2015
Invited Talk and Reading. “James Baldwin’s Political Interior,” Institute for African
American Studies, University of Georgia, October 22.
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Invited Talk. “James Baldwin’s ‘Poetics’ of the 1970s,” Carter G. Woodson Center,
University of Virginia, October 16.
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Invited Talk. “Who Can Afford to Improvise?: James Baldwin and Black Music,”
Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 8.
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Invited Talk. “Robert Hayden’s ‘Thus Marimba’d Night,’: Afro-Modernism and
Contemporary Poetics.” July 28. Don’t Deny My Voice: NEH Seminar, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
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Invited Talk. “‘How to Heal A Mouth. . .’: Music and the African American Literary
Imagination.” July 28. Don’t Deny My Voice: NEH Seminar, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
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2014
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Invited Talk. “Billie Holiday in Gayl Jones’ Corregidora. The New School for Social
Research. November 12.
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Poetry Reading. Creative Writing Program, Brown University, October 7.
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Conference Paper. “‘But Amen is the Price’: James Baldwin and Ray Charles in ‘The
Hallelujah Chorus’ (Revisited),” James Baldwin: Transatlantic Commuter,
Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France. June 6.
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Poetry Reading: Palestinian Festival of Literature, Haifa, Israel. June 3.
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Poetry Reading. PEN World Voices Festival 2014, Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House,
New York University, New York City, May 2.
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Invited Talk. “Billie Holiday – Lyricist,” Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, New York
University, New York City, April 30.
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Invited Talk. “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?: James Baldwin and Ray Charles in The
Hallelujah Chorus Revisited. Union College, Schenectady, NY, April 29.
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Poetry Reading. Hutchins/Du Bois Institute and Grolier Books, Cambridge, MA April 28.
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Invited Talk. “Jimmy’s Blues,” James Baldwin This Time, New York Live Arts, New York
City, April 26.
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Invited Dramatic Reading. “Jimmy at High Noon,” James Baldwin This Time, New York
Live Arts, New York City, April 26. New York City.
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2013
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Interview. “Soul Music and Contemporary Poetry,” University of the Air, Wisconsin Public
Radio, recorded November 22, 2013. Aired December 29.
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Invited Talk. “James Baldwin’s Political Poetics in the 1970s.” UW-Madison. November 21.
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Poetry Reading. Odyssey Project, UW-Madison Outreach, November 20.
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Poetry Reading. SUNY-Rockport. Rockport, NY. November 2.
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Poetry Reading. Black Renaissance Noire Release. New York City. October 25.
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Poetry Reading. University of Western Washington. Bellingham, WA. October 11.
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Poetry Reading. Poetry Flash. Berkeley, California. October 10.
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Poetry Reading. Foothill College. San Jose, California. October 9.
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Poetry Reading. University of California-Merced. October 8.
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Poetry Reading. California State University at Fullerton. October 7.
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Poetry Reading. Willson Center for the Humanities. Athens, GA. September 26.
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2012
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“I Can Think of Nothing Now But Power: Poetry in the Contemporary American
Imagination,” Framingham Women’s Prison, Nov. 2.
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“I Can Think of Nothing Now But Power: Poetry in the Contemporary American
Imagination,” Keene State University, October 3.
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Colloquium. “No Time To Rest” Reading James Baldwin’s letters to his Brother David.
Harvard University, Sept 12.
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2011
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Invited Talk : “Winners And Experimental Fiction,” The New School, Manhattan, November 9, 2011.
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Poetry Reading and Q & A. Grinnell College, Sept 28.
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Invited Talk. “Inadmissable Evidence: James Baldwin’s Correspondence with his Brother
David, UW-Madison, April 12.
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2010
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Poetry Reading. Kwani? LitFest, Nairobi, Dec. 12, 2010 (excerpt on YouTube).
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Poetry Reading. Indiana Writer’s Conference, June 8, 2010, Bloominton, IN.
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2009
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Poetry Reading. SLS-Kenya. Lamu, Coast Province, Kenya, December 25, 2009.
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Poetry Reading. Poetry at Tech, Georgia Tech University, April 3, 2009.
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2008
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Invited Talk. “’A Coherent Need for Each Other,’ : Tone in 1980’s R&B Music,” UW-
Madison Department of Afro-American Studies and the Program in Integrated Liberal Studies, November, 12, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. University of Wisconsin-Madison. November 13, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Poetry Flash. Berkeley, CA October 16, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Poetry Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz, CA. October 14, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. De Witt Clinton High School. Bronx, NY. September 29, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Columbia University. New York City. September 26, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. University of Vermont. Burlington, VT. September 25, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Union College. Schenectady, NY. September 22, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. The New School for Social Research. New York City. September 3, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Sunday Salon. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. April 13, 2008.
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Poetry Reading. Counterbalance Poetry Series. March 3, 2008. Seattle, WA.
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Poetry Readings. Associated with US Delegation to Kolkata Book Festival. February 1 – 10, 2008. Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
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2007
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Poetry Reading. Breadloaf Writers Conference, August 21, 2007, Breadloaf, Vermont.
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Poetry Reading. With Reginald McKnight and Binyavanga Wainaina. Georgia Museum of Art, March 3, 2007.
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2006
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Invited Talk. “Inside-out looks outside-in : James Baldwin, Billie Holiday and an American Poetics Worth its Weight in Breath,” UW-Madison Department of Afro-American Studies, November 3, 2006.
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Poetry Reading. The Georgia Review, Tasty World, Athens, Georiga, February 18, 2006.
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Poetry Reading. Kwani? Litaray Festival. American Embassy, Nairobi, Kenya, December 21, 2006.
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Poetry Reading. With Adrienne Rich, Joy Harjo, Cheryl Clarke, Smith College, April 20, 2006.
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Poetry Reading. University of Georgia-Athens, February 3, 2006.
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2005
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Poetry Reading. Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. Montreal, Québec, March 26, 2005.
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2003
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Poetry Reading. Adze Gallery. York, U.K. December 18th, 2003.
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Poetry Reading. York St. John’s College Lecture Theatre. York, U.K. December 9, 2003.
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Poetry Reading. “Riverlines Poetry Series,” City Screens, York, U.K. November 11, 2003.
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Poetry Reading. With Adrienne Rich and Sarwat Rumi, Guild Complex, April 12, 2003. Chicago, IL
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“From the Concert Hall to the Chicken Shack: Radical Empiricism and Du Bois’s poetics in The Souls of Black Folk.” Du Bois Souls Symposium, April 10, 2003. Madison, WI.
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Poetry Reading. With Yusef Komunyakaa and Abena Busia, Du Bois Souls Symposium,
April 12, 2003. Madison WI.
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2002
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Poetry Reading, Changing Spaces Art Gallery, Albany, NY, July 12, 2002.
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Poetry Reading, The Stray Dog, St. Petersburg, Russia. June 24, 2002.
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Poetry Reading, Ann Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland, April 25, 2002.
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Poetry Reading, Open Door Books, Schenectady, NY, April 15, 2002.
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Poetry Reading. Honickman Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2002.
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Poetry Reading. Counterbalance Poetry Series. Seattle, WA, March 14, 2002.
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2001
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“Open the Unusual Door: Visions from the Dark Window in Yusef Komunyakaa’s Early Poems.” Third Annual Conference of the Modernist Studies Association, Rice University, Houston, TX, October 13, 2001.
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“Jazz, Jazz, Presence, and a Poetics of the Non-Identical.” Guest lecture in Nellie McKay’s Graduate Seminar on Toni Morrison. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of English, March 22, 2001.
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“Crossroads Modernism: Descent and Communion in James Baldwin’s Jazz.” Second Annual Conference of the Modernist Studies Association, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA October 13, 2000.
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Poetry Reading. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT August 22, 2000.
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“‘Papa Legba, ouvrier barriere por moi passer’: Reckoning with Esu at the Crossroads in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Annual Conference of the National Association of African American Studies, Houston, TX February 25, 2000.
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