What a night! Thank you to all who celebrated with us at Saturday night’s Virginia Literary Awards. Congrats to the winners, finalists and Patron of Letters degree recipients Reginald Freedom Reads founder Reginald Dwayne Betts and author Adriana Trigiani. #VaLitAwards

Decade of the Brain won the Library of Virginia Virginia Literary Award for poetry! Highlights: meeting the brilliant ariana benson & Reginald Dwayne Betts, recipient of the honorary Patron of Letters degree 💐 Endless thanks to the judges & congrats again to the winners & finalists!

Tonight, our legal system tragically failed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams for the final time. The state of Missouri executed Mr. Williams in a horrific display of inhumanity, despite compelling evidence of his innocence. Tonight, we mourn his loss and honor his legacy.

I am stuck on the pause before “Another’s heartbeat” that begins the poem, that now, outside the poem, with respect to Marcellus Khaliifah Williams, is a long eternal night. And, here, I would love nothing more than to throw an endless mourning shroud over you and I and everyone

Ariana Benson’s (ariana benson) Black Pastoral (UGA Press @UGAPress, 2023) has won the $25,000 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the most outstanding book of poetry published in the U.S. in the previous calendar year. Kyle Dargan, Yesenia Montilla La Yesenia, & D.A. Powell

ariana benson @UGAPress La Yesenia

ariana benson @UGAPress La Yesenia Michelle Peñaloza’s (@pennyzola) All The Words I Can Remember Are Poems has won the $5,000 James Laughlin Award, which recognizes a second book of poetry forthcoming in the next calendar year. Peñaloza’s manuscript will be published by Persea Books Persea Books in 2025. Tarfia

ariana benson @UGAPress La Yesenia @pennyzola Persea Books

Singing so many HUZZAHS to ariana benson & @pennyzola 💐💗💐✨

"The promise of what literature might offer became the very center of my life." This past weekend, Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Dwayne Betts was awarded the Library of Virginia's honorary Patron of Letters degree 📚 Congratulations to Dwayne & the other 2024 award recipients & honorees!

agreed 🥹

🎉 Meet the 2024 MacArthur Fellows! These 22 exceptionally creative individuals redefine their fields with imagination and intention. They shift how we connect to one another, through our shared history and our stories. #MacFellow macfound.org/fellows

Read Janine Joseph’s DECADE OF THE BRAIN (Alice James Books) this #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth: These poems “articulate the strangeness of living in relation to other past and simultaneous selves.” alicejamesbooks.org/bookstore/deca…

For a long time after my book came out it felt like all I could do was move two lines around at a time, arranging shards. I’ve since broken out of that mode thank god but I’m publishing a few pieces now as a nod to that time / process. Here is one in Kenyon Review.

🇵🇭 Filipino American History Month is nearly over, but these recs can be read for months and years to come. Happy to see my own Decade of the Brain on this reading list, alongside books by Ina Darling J. Mae Barizo @rawqeli @ThePoetsLizard @aimeenez & more 🥰

#TaxationwithoutRepresentation

On January 23rd, we will have the talented (and formerly undocumented) poet and librettist, Janine Joseph come to speak with American University's Kyle Dargan. Here is a blog to learn more about her: bit.ly/JanineJosephBl…    Buy tickets now: hillcenterdc.org/celebrated-poe…   Undocupoets

Read this intimate profile on poet, Janine Joseph written by Serena Zets for the Washington City Paper: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/756558… Janine will be at Hill Center on Thursday, get your tickets now: hillcenterdc.org/event/the-life… Poetry Foundation American University Split This Rock

Read this intimate profile on poet, Janine Joseph written by Serena Zets for the Washington City Paper: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/756558… She will be at Hill Center on Thursday, get your tickets now:hillcenterdc.org/event/the-life… Kundiman, East City Bookshop, Poetry Foundation, Split This Rock, American University