S216. Gratitude as Grit: Poetry of Appreciation in Times of Strife

Room 007A, Henry B. González Convention Center, River Level
Saturday, March 7, 2020
1:45 pm to 3:00 pm

 

Contemporary poetry turns frequently toward criticizing socioeconomic and environmental injustices while veering away from poems of thanksgiving and appreciation. However, poetry that perpetuates narratives of hope, grace, and beauty is crucial: without such narratives, personal and political despair become paralyzing. In this reading, poets share work that acknowledges the difficulties of experience while also praising that which gives us the ability to write and take action.


Outline & Supplemental Documents

Event Outline: AWP__Gratitude_as_Grit_Outline.docx

Participants

Moderator:

Amie Whittemore is the author of Glass Harvest and an educator. Her poetry has been recognized with a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize and featured in Cold Mountain Review, Terrain: A Journal of Built & Natural Environments, Gettysburg Review, The Southeast Review, and elsewhere.

Diana Khoi Nguyen is a poet and multimedia artist,  and the author of Ghost Of, which won the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and other prizes. A Kundiman fellow, she currently teaches in the Randolph College MFA program and Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

Tyree Daye is the author of two poetry collections, River Hymns (winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize) and Cardinal (forthcoming). A Whiting Award Winner and Amy Clampitt fellow, Daye’s work has been published in Prairie Schooner, New York Times, Nashville Review, and VQR.

Catherine Pierce's most recent book is The Tornado Is the World; her new book, Danger Days, is forthcoming. Her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, New York Times, and elsewhere. A 2019 NEA Fellow and Pushcart Prize winner, she teaches at Mississippi State.

Jane Wong

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center