The Space Between Men: An Evening of Poetry with Mia S. Willis
Friday, January 31
6-7:15 pm ET
Virtual event; open to the public
including all mentors, mentees, & members
Required for the Poetry Journey
In their full-length poetry debut, Mia S. Willis looks to familial history, rituals of faith, and the natural world to explore how the intersecting cultures of Blackness and queerness relate to each other. Join them as they read a selection of poems from “the space between men” and share writing prompts based on the African American poetry forms that appear in the collection.
Meet the Guest Author
Mia S. Willis
Mia S. Willis (they/them) is a poet, popular educator, and cultural historian from Charlotte, North Carolina. Their work, twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, has been featured by The Slowdown, The Shade Journal, Palette Poetry, The Offing, the minnesota review, homology lit., NarrativeNortheast, and others. Willis has earned fellowships from Cave Canem, La Maison Baldwin, The Watering Hole, Lambda Literary, and Chashama’s ChaNorth. A two-time Best of the Net nominee, they are the author of “monster house,” the 2018 winner of Cave Canem’s Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize, and “the space between men,” a winner of the 2023 National Poetry Series.
Learn more about the space between men…
A poetic ethnography that creates and documents the vocabulary of the Southern Black queer experience, chosen as a National Poetry Series winner by Morgan Parker.
“Willis’ poetic voice is brimming with personality and curiosity, as musical as it is philosophical, and the space between men is a formidable debut.” —Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro and There Are More Beautiful Things than Beyoncé
These piercing, surprising poems look to familial history, rituals of faith, and the natural world to explore how the intersecting cultures of Blackness and queerness relate to each other. As the collection evolves, the reader is challenged and empowered to seek expansiveness in spaces that have not previously been excavated, reckon with the complexities of interpersonal relationships, and explore memory as a catalyst for self-determination.
This event is open to:
all mentees, all mentors, members and the public