We walk the world separately, and as individuals come to understand it through the frameworks we have learned. Fortunately, artists are here to challenge whatever singular worldview we have built. Poetry, especially, can energize our self-awareness and jumpstart change.
Join Connecticut Poet Laureate Antoinette Brim-Bell in conversation about the power of poetry today: to reveal and criticize oppression; to include voices and stories ignored until now; and in so doing, to enlarge our shared histories and enrich our community. She also knows that poetry evokes empathy, the necessary tool for dismantling barriers and discrediting systems that no longer work for the good of the whole. Poetry changes emotional habits and puts us through new paces. Let’s join her for this endeavor.
Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut’s 8th State Poet Laureate, is the author of three full-length poetry collections: These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. She is a Cave Canem Foundation Fellow and an alumna of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA). Her poetry has appeared in journals, magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, including Villanelles, 44 on 44: Forty-Four African American Writers on the 44th President of the United States, Not A Muse, Poetry Magazine and Poem-a-Day. Her essays and criticism have appeared in numerous collections. Additionally, Brim-Bell hosted a series of Black History Month TV programs for the OneWorld Progressive Institute.
Monday, March 10 | 2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. | Wilde Auditorium/Harry Jack Gray Center | Free for Fellows/$20 for Non-Fellows
This course is made possible in part by the generosity of the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
Fellows, with a gift of $100 or more, receive benefits including the Presidents’ College Conversations, library privileges, and parking in any non-reserved parking space on campus.
Brought to you by the Presidents' College, where we connect the curious through lifelong learning.
For more stimulating Presidents' College offerings, see our printable Courses & Lectures listing.
Faculty and staff are eligible to take one Presidents' College lecture for free every semester, or to receive a one-session discount ($20) for a longer course. Contact Laurie Fasciano at fasciano@hartford.edu or 860.768.4495.