Kelsey Street Press, a small press with an explosive history of publishing radical queer and trans BIPOC and women authors, celebrates its 50th anniversary. Publishing experimental feminist poetics since 1974, Kelsey Street Press has been pivotal in addressing gender disparity in publishing. Their formidable lineage includes Etel Adnan, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Renee Gladman, Fanny Howe, Erica Hunt, Bhanu Kapil, Myung Mi Kim, Camille Roy, and Cecilia Viçuna.

Four poets with recent or forthcoming publications from Kelsey Street Press will read at this event. Kiran Bath is the author of Instructions for Banno (2024), a debut collection which moves through ritual, ruptured diary, field notes, and family genealogy to grapple with the inherited trauma of becoming a South Asian bride (banno). Jennifer (JP) Perrine is the winner of Kelsey Street Press’s 2023 QTBIPOC Prize for Beautiful Outlaw (forthcoming in 2025). Rena Rosenwasser, a co-founder of the press, has four poetry collections published by the press across four decades: Elevators (2011), Isle (1992), Simulacra (1986), and Desert Flats (1979). Metta Sáma is the author of Swing at your own risk (2019), a formally inventive and incisive critique of anti-blackness in the US empire.

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Murmurs from the poets:

“America,
this land is my land this land is her land
from the Mexican border to the New England
shoreland this land is Not your land this body is
Not your body this tongue is Not your tongue this
language will cut you will peel back the flesh”
—Metta Sáma, from Swing at your own risk

“The Interior is the City within the Self”
—Rena Rosenwasser, from Elevator

“Fibs woven of angel vision. What she really sees is inner colors. Purple held by
eyelids in the way of quiet lotus buds. In a day it’s forgotten.”
—Kiran Bath, from Instructions for Banno

“any answer I give is a half-answer
any answer arrives through the mouth of an american”
—Jennifer Perrine, from Beautiful Outlaw

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In-Person Attendance: Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in for those who would like to wear one. The Foundation reserves the right to update this policy if community levels of COVID-19 increase significantly. Read our full COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.

Livestream Attendance: The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance.

This program is part of the Poetry Foundation’s fall 2024 season, Murmuring Americas. All Poetry Foundation events are completely free of charge and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to register in advance. The performance space is ADA compliant and wheelchair accessible, and the program will feature CART captioning and ASL interpretation. Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.

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Tags: Chicago, Jennifer (JP) Perrine, Kelsey Street Press, Kelsey Street Press 50th Anniversary, Kiran Bath, Metta Sáma, Near North Side, Poetry Foundation, Rena Rosenwasser