Online: An Evening with the State’s New Poets Laureate
November 9th @ 7:00pm: Join us for a virtual reading and talkback with newly appointed Connecticut State Poet Laureate Antoinette Brim-Bell and Jaida Taveras, the state’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. The two honored poets will read from recent works, share hopes for their roles as laureates, and answer questions from the audience – and each other.
Antoinette Brim-Bell (photo, right) is the author of These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. She is a Cave Canem Foundation fellow, a recipient of the Walker Foundation Scholarship, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. A sought-after speaker, editor, educator, and consultant, Brim-Bell is a Professor of English at Capital Community College.
Jaida Taveras attends Washington University, where she is majoring in philosophy. Jaida is a member of the university’s slam team and teaches poetry to students in the St. Louis area. At Naugatuck High School, she served as a student representative of the Connecticut State Board of Education, a writer with Poetry Ourselves, an orator with the American Legion, and a performer with the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition.