NYS Writers Institute - Elizabeth Acevedo, September 6

This was a spirited evening, early in the Writers Institute semester-long season, with many students in the audience to see, hear & talk with Elizabeth Acevedo, National Poetry Slam Champion & author of the novel The Poet X (2018).

Writers Institute Director Paul Grondahl introduced one of my favorite local poets, D. Colin, to introduce Acevedo, with an emotional & personal take on Acevedo’s novel — Danielle’s family is from Haiti, while Acevedo’s are from the Dominican Republic. Acevedo then dedicated her opening piece to Danielle, “…for us writers, us readers, us girls …” She went on to talk about an early professor of hers who perpetuated the stereotypical poetic subjects, so that she responded with a poem “The Rat” (that the professor did not think “noble enough” for poetry).

She then talked of her Dominican family, & hair, & performed her piece about “how do you fix this hair?” From the novel she read a section from the beginning where the main character describes herself; & the author talked about her own experience coming up with her poems through the NYC hip-hop scene, then performed her poem about the bravado that characterizes rap performers, no matter what the quality of their work.

The Q&A session began with a question in Spanish (answered in English) about her beginnings as a writer, & more discussion of proving herself in the competitive hip-hop community. She also talked about the huge influence & support she received in her youth from The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis).

If you don’t have the Writers Institute schedule for the Fall, visit their website for a complete listing.