SMOL Exclusive: Six Millennials from Across the U.S.

WHEN?
Friday, March 5, 2021, 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST

​As The Guardian reported in 2018, poetry is experiencing a revival throughout the English-speaking world, driven mostly by millennials. And yet, with a few notable exceptions like Rupi Kaur, the American poetry community is still mostly dominated by the same faces and names of the old guard. Moreover, much as it has been throughout its history, the poetic status quo remains cliquish and niche-oriented, whereas millennials themselves are the most egalitarian, most community-oriented generation yet to reach adulthood.

Mojdeh Stoakley

Lauren Berry

Alexa Doran

Alexander Garza

Joshua Eric Williams

Phill Provance

This SMOL online reading, sponsored by Vine Leaves Press, aims to help make American poetry more reflective of its growing readership by bringing together six millennial poets of various styles, backgrounds and geographical origins for a reading of their latest work and a discussion of where they think American poetry is headed. Readers/Panelists will include:

• Chicago native Mojdeh Stoakley, who has won dozens of Slam competitions and serves as both Chicago host-city director for the National Poetry Slam and education director for Poets with Class at the Chicago Poetry Center
• Dunedin, Florida native Lauren Berry, whose first collection, The Lifting Dress, won the 2011 National Poetry Series and whose second collection, The Rented Altar, won the 2020 C&R Press Poetry Award
• Syracuse, New York native Alexa Doran, whose forthcoming collection DM Me, Mother Darling won the 2020 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize;
• Houston, Texas native Alexander Garza, who won the Horror Writer Association’s 2019 Dark Poetry Award;
• Carrollton, Georgia native Joshua Eric Williams, whose haiku collection The Strangest Conversation was a finalist for the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards; and Connellsville, Pennsylvania native
• Vine Leaves Press author Phill Provance, whose poetry and prose have received national grants from Poets & Writers, PEN America, the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Society of America, in addition to dozens of other honors and awards.

​Statement of Merit:
It is often the case that conference readings/panels base themselves around similarities between poets, such as publisher, gender/sex, race, theoretical school, region, socio-economic class, etc. This has the benefit of giving a very acute view of certain corners of poetry, but that view can also be exclusionary in its narrowness. In contrast, this reading/panel will comprise poets who have little, ostensibly, in common except their age group and nationality but who, in true Millennial spirit, value each other’s work and poetry generally, with an eye toward providing their audience with an accurate overview of where American poetry is today. Though they are not all Vine Leaves Press authors, the six poets participating in this reading/panel have been brought together by the publisher in the service of providing a sampling of what’s next for American poetry as the Internet makes communication and collaboration across regions, genres and approaches ever stronger.

Attendance Information:
Phill Provance is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
 
Topic: SMOL Exclusive: Six Millennials from Across the U.S.
Time: Mar 5, 2021 09:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting: Click Here
 
Meeting ID: 926 1336 3208
Passcode: 249982

One tap mobile
+13126266799,,92613363208#,,,,*249982# US (Chicago)
+13017158592,,92613363208#,,,,*249982# US (Washington D.C)
 
Dial by your location
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 926 1336 3208
Passcode: 249982
​
Find your local number: Click Here