What You Reading? The Series

Quoting an elder who once said, "Freedom is the thing you would not have to choose between," Kelly Harris-DeBerry talks with Carmin Wong about her recent poetry collection and her identity as a Black woman poet.

This sixth episode features Gigi, Christopher Romaguera, Sadiyah Malcolm, Trona Cenac, Aye and Magariou Diallo with Dienabou Balde, Nelle and Raywattie Wong, as they explore cultural and linguistic heritage. These Caribbean, Latin, and African hyphenated Americans share stories, poems, sayings, or customs in their native languages or dialects to help inform a wider conversation about language and identity in literary discourse.

In this fifth episode, Dr. Heidi Lovett, Tierra Jackson, Sadiyah Malcolm, Myesha Carter, Joel Rhone, Julienne Louis, Lindsey Foster, and Cathleen Antoine-Abiala read excepts from literature written by Black authors of the past and present. Their readings, highlights literature as a form of activism and pays homage to Black writers past and present.

Episode four marks one-month since airing the pilot episode of this literary podcast! This segment features Nzingha Lewis, Ali Whitner, Chayla Simpson, and Brittany Turner, who recite or perform monologues from their favorite playwrights, and in one case, infused some original content. They are here to share their artistry and talents as actresses to help depict a space where literature and performance merge, and show how a single breath can give words life.

This third episode features an exclusive interview with Maurice Carlos Ruffin, award-winning author of We Cast A shadow, and original prose pieces written by Christiana McClain and Christopher Romaguera. Thanking all participants for their artistry as we remain quarantined inside, and much love to Maurice, who became a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for We Cast A Shadow.

This second recording features TWA, Angel C. Dye, SoSaysSwiss, Gabrielle Oliver, Maya Angelique, and curator, Carmin Wong. Though based at home as a result of COVID-19, they come on to spit some original poems and show that creative communities are still possible during quarantine.

This pilot episode features Trace Howard DePass, Taylor Lauren Davis, Jordan Honeyblue, Taylor Byas, Poetic Boy D, and curator, Carmin Wong. Though based at home as a result of COVID-19, they come on to spit some original poems and show that creative communities are still possible during quarantine.