Cave Canem Foundation Gala: Poetry & More

CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Avenue (212-941-5720)
In 1996, Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady started Cave Canem with the intuition that African American poets would benefit from having a gathering place of their own in the literary landscape. After the first week-long retreat with 27 poets, that intuition became a conviction, and Cave Canem Foundation, Inc. was born. (Cave Canem means “Beware of the dog,” an inscription that wards trouble away from the threshold of the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii.) Ten years have passed, and in North America Cave Canem has become the major watering hole and air pocket for Black poetry. Oct. 12, 7 pm: six winners of the Cave Canem first-book prize, including Kyle Dargan, Major Jackson and Tracy K. Smith, read from their work; Sonia Sanchez hosts and reads. • Oct. 13, 5 pm, a Gala reception honoring the founders features a keynote by novelist Walter Mosley at 6:30 pm. The Cave Canem faculty reading at 7 pm reads like a virtual “Who’s Who” of contemporary poetry: Elizabeth Alexander, Cyrus Cassells, Lucille Clifton, Kwame Dawes, Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Nikky Finney, Erica Hunt, Yusef Komunyakaa, Haryette Mullen, Marilyn Nelson, Sonia Sanchez, Tim Seibles, Patricia Smith and Afaa Weaver. (For a complete schedule of events and ticket information visitwww.cavecanempoets.org.)

The attached release also contains a complete schedule. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Best,

Simone

Simone White
Program Coordinator
Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.
584 Broadway, Suite 508
New York, New York 10012
212.941.5720 phone
212.941.5724 fax