[Michlib-l] Michigan Poet Laureate to Visit Alpena

[Jessica Luther]

*Poetry Reading and Q&A with Nandi Comer*

*Sunday, September 15, 2024, 11 am-12:30 pm*




*Alpena Community CollegeGranum Theatre665 Johnson Street Alpena, MI 49707*

The Poetics Lab and the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library are
thrilled to welcome Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer to Alpena! This
special event will feature Nandi reading from a selection of her works
followed by a Q&A.

This is the first time a Michigan Poet Laureate has visited Alpena making
this an opportunity not to be missed!

Can't attend in person? Virtual tickets are available! Space is limited, so
registration is required. https://bit.ly/4fDkiub

For an added experience, join the Poetics Lab and the Susan Lane Foundation
for an open mic night with Nandi Comer at PIF Cider on Saturday, September
14th from 7-9 pm.

About Nandi Comer:

Nandi Comer is the Poet Laureate of Michigan. She was raised in Detroit,
Michigan. She received a B.A. in English and in Spanish with an emphasis on
Latin American Culture from the University of Michigan. She has received
fellowships from Cave Canem, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont
Studio Center, Callaloo, and a translation fellowship by US Poets in
Mexico. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Callaloo,
Crab Orchard Review, The Journal of Pan African Studies, Sycamore Review,
and Third Coast. She is the author of American Family: Syndrome (Finishing
Line Press) and Tapping Out (Northwestern University Press), which was
awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk
Award. Her writing received the Vera Myer Strube Award in poetry and she is
the winner of Crab Orchard Review’s 2014 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize. In
2016 she completed an M.A. in African American Literature from the
Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies and an M.F.A.
in Poetry from the English Department at Indiana University. She is a 2019
Kresge Literary Arts Fellow.

Over the years, Nandi has been dedicated to youth development by serving as
a writer-in-residence in Detroit Public Schools and community centers. She
has also worked in collaboration with organizations including YArts and
InsideOut Literary Arts Projects. She served as a curriculum developer and
youth curriculum consultant for various arts organizations and in 2018 she
received William Wiggins Award for Outstanding Teaching at Indiana
University.

In 2013 Comer debuted, “Pedestrians,” a choreo-poem created in
collaboration with Indiana University’s African American dance company. She
was awarded the 2014 Pioneer Award by the Department of African American
and African Diaspora Studies in recognition of her commitment to
scholarship and production of the arts that explore African American
traditions.

Her most recent poetry and performance project, Techno Poetics, was an
interdisciplinary performance program that used poetry to tell the story of
the origins of Techno and contemporary Detroit music. Informed by her
experiences growing up in Detroit, Comer writes and performs literary
pieces that incorporate the history of the city while also examining race,
gender, sexuality, and class.

She is currently the co-director of Detroit Lit, a program dedicated to
providing reading and professional development opportunities to narrative
makers of color in Detroit. She is a community leader, an educator, an
activist, and a very passionate writer dedicated to supporting contemporary
voices.

*Jessica Luther (she/her) *
Assistant Director *Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library* 211 N.
First Ave. Alpena, MI 49707 jluther at alpenalibrary.org 989.419.4236
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