Black Futurity: A Magnificent Anthem

Name: Black Futurity: A Magnificent Anthem
Start: 2020-11-17T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2020-11-18T18:59:59-05:00
Location: On Demand

Author:

Danez Smith, Nate Marshall, William Ashanti Hobbs, III

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Homie: Poems is Danez Smith’s magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith’s close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family – blood and chosen – arrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie: Poems is the exuberant new book written for Smith and for Smith’s friends, and for you and for yours.

Definition of finna, created by author Nate Marshall: fin·na /ˈfinə/ contraction: (1) going to; intending to [rooted in African American Vernacular English] (2) eye dialect spelling of “fixing to” (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow. Marshall’s poems consider the brevity and disposability of Black lives and other oppressed people in our current era of emboldened white supremacy, and the use of the Black vernacular in America’s vast reserve of racial and gendered epithets. Finna: Poems explores the erasure of peoples in the American narrative; asks how gendered language can provoke violence; and finally, how the Black vernacular expands our notions of possibility, giving us a new language of hope.

Moderated by Dr. William Hobbs, English department chair at Florida Memorial University.

Sponsored by:

William Ashanti Hobbs, III

Dr. William Hobbs (aka William Ashanti Hobbs, III) is Department Chair of Humanities at Florida Memorial University. He self-published a collection of short stories and poems and The Chosen People: Africa’s Lost Tale of Meroe, a novel, while still a junior at Florida A&M University. In time he earned a master’s and doctorate degree in creative writing from Florida State University. Hobbs has written about the systemic challenges in higher education for both instructors and students of color. Additionally, he has also taught conflict resolution seminars and most recently developed an online course for success strategies and resiliency for young black males. His novel North of the Grove, self-published, focuses on the importance of mentorship.

Danez Smith

Danez Smith is a black, queer, poz writer & performer. Danez is the author of Don’t Call Us Dead, a finalist for the National Book Award, and [insert] boy. Their work has been featured widely including on Buzzfeed, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Best American Poetry, Poetry Magazine, and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They are a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness. Homie (Graywolf Press) is Danez Smith’s anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith’s close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, and even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family—blood and chosen—arrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie is Danez’s new book written for Danez’s friends and for you and for yours. The New York Times praised it saying “The radiance of Homie arrives like a shock, like found money, like a flower fighting through concrete […] This is a book full of the turbulence of thought and desire,

Nate Marshall

Nate Marshall is an award-winning writer, rapper, educator, and editor. He is the author and editor of numerous works including Wild Hundreds and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Nate is a member of The Dark Noise Collective and co-directs Crescendo Literary. In his collection Finna (One World), sharp, lyrical poems celebrate the Black vernacular, its influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, and its rite in storytelling. These poems consider the brevity and disposability of Black lives and other oppressed people in our current era of emboldened white supremacy, and how the Black vernacular, expands our notions of possibility, giving us a new language of hope. Roxane Gay, author of Hunger and Bad Feminist called it “Simply outstanding poetry.”

Black Futurity: A Magnificent Anthem