Changeling queer reading series returns 6/1 for a hot, sweaty pride month event! We’ll have performances from poet Kemi Alabi (Chicago) and artist and organizer Janet Xmas (Grace Smith, St. Louis). As usual we’ll have free drinks courtesy of Earthbound beer and also special pride month treats. See you 6/1, 7pm-9pm CST!
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Kemi Alabi (they/them) is the author of Against Heaven (Graywolf Press, 2022), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award. The collection was a Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist, Chicago Review of Books Award winner, and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022. Alabi’s poems appear in The Atlantic, The Nation, Poetry, Boston Review and Best New Poets. A Periplus Collective mentor, Alabi has received fellowships from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri, and elsewhere. As Head of Creativity & Impact of the gender justice organization Forward Together, Alabi builds cultural power with organizers and artists. They’re coeditor of The Echoing Ida Collection (Feminist Press, 2021), an anthology of Black reproductive justice writing. Born in Wisconsin on a Sunday in July, they now live in Chicago, IL.
www.kemialabi.com
Grace Smith (she/they) has been traveling, performing and organizing DIY events for over 10 years, and is finally feeling a local rhythm in the St. Louis area. Primarily a traveling artist for the past decade she has performed at Miami's International Noise Conference, Miami's Performance International Festival, NC's Savage Weekend, WV's Voice of the Valley/Big Noise Candy Mountain, Adult Swim in ATL, DTX's Psychedelic Mixer, Milwaukee Noise Festival, SuxbySuxwest, Fargo Noise Fest, NYC's Ende Tymes, Detroit's Mental Spaghetti Fest, LA's Mechanical Grinding Fest, and been on countless tours across the country primarily with psycho-jazz-freak legend and meme, Bobb Hatt. She has shared the stage opening for and following national acts such as Neil Hamburger, Kool Keith, Revrend Martin of Suicide, Lydia Lunch, Wolf Eyes, and as a dancer for FKA ICE opening for Big Freeida. Smith is now beginning to consider the extent of her full power and potential with institutional funding.
Check out the RFT Article about Grace!