F229.
What Did I Know? The Poetry of Black Fatherhood in Theory and Practice
Friday, February 9, 2024
3:20 pm to 4:35 pm
Black poets who are fathers are currently asserting their voices against historical silences. Examining poetic theory and practice through the lens of Black fatherhood, this panel examines the effect of a poet's race, gender, and parental status on poetic form, content, and process. How do Black father-poets reflect on and speak back to generations of denigrating rhetoric surrounding Black masculinity and fatherhood to carve out healthier, more joyful spaces for their families and themselves?
Participants
Iain Haley Pollock is the author of the poetry collections Ghost, Like a Place and Spit Back a Boy. His work has received the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and an NAACP Image Award nomination. Pollock directs the MFA Program at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.
Nathan McClain is the author of Previously Owned (2022) and Scale (2017), both from Four Way Books. He is a graduate from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson and a Cave Canem fellow. He currently teaches at Hampshire College and serves as poetry editor for the Massachusetts Review.
Quintin Collins is a writer, Solstice MFA Program assistant director, and a poetry editor for Salamander Magazine. He is the author of The Dandelion Speaks of Survival and Claim Tickets for Stolen People, and his poems appear in various online and print publications.
Geffrey Davis is the author of three collections: One Wild Word Away, Night Angler, and Revising the Storm. A recipient of fellowships from Bread Loaf, Cave Canem, and the NEA, Davis serves as poetry editor for Iron Horse and teaches at the University of Arkansas and with the Rainier Writing Workshop.
