Poetry Reading

Poetry Reading
Thursday, June 25, at 7 p.m. at NZ’s B-Side
Admission: Free

Poetry Reading featuring national and local guest writers and poets including Roger Bonair-Agard, Kevin Coval, Willie Persomo, Scott Beal, and Jeff Kass.

Roger Bonair-Agard is a former National Poetry Slam individual champion and he has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He has performed his work at the world famous Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival and was a featured performer at Poetry Night in Ann Arbor 2005. His poetry collection Tarnish and Masquerade earned him the designation by Poets & Writers as one of 2007’s Top Twelve New Poets.

Kevin Coval works for Young Chicago Authors as a teacher. He has been a member of many Chicago Poetry Slam teams and has also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. He was a featured author at the 2006 Ann Arbor Book Festival and has recently published a collection of poems titled Slingshots.

Willie Perdomo is the author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, which received a PEN America Beyond Margins Award. He is currently artist-in-residence at Workspace, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and is co-founder/publisher of Cypher Books.

Scott Beal is a well-known award-winning local poet who graduated from the University of Michigan’s MFA program in Creative Writing and won Hopwood Awards when he was there. He also conducts the Neutral Zone’s Short Story Workshop.

Jeff Kass is the founder and director of the VOLUME Youth Poetry Project. A two-time Ann Arbor Grand Slam Champion, he also is a two-time first-place winner of Current’s Fiction Contest.

The event also features local guest writers Molly Raynor, Michelle Byers, and Tracy Rosewarne.