The Desert Nights, Rising Stars
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Conference Schedule 2019

Conference Schedule 2019

Saturday, February 23, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Image, Form & Intersections of Identity in Poetry with Nicole Sealey, Bojan Louis, Carmen Giménez Smith, Justin Petropoulos

Date(s): Saturday, February 23, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Location: Carson Ballroom, Old Main (view map)
Type(s): Panel
Genre and Form(s): Mixed Genre, Poetry
Tags: Identity, Form, Image

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About the Session

How do our identities intersect with our writing? How do the concepts of identity manifest themselves in poetry? How does the page represent both the art, itself, and the artist? How does the writing of identity intersect with the political and cultural? What are the interconnections between the technical elements of poetry in consideration with identity? Three award-winning poets, editors, and social change agents will discuss the complexities the concepts of identity play in poetry and how the forms and images used may set tones and scaffolding for the artistic work in personal, cultural, and societal contexts.

Meet the Presenter(s)

Desert Nights Rising Stars Writers Conference Faculty 2019 Nicole Sealey


Nicole Sealey

Born in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and raised in Apopka, Florida, Nicole Sealey is the author of Ordinary Beast, finalist for the 2018 PEN Open Book Award, and The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named, winner of the 2015 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize.

Learn more about Nicole Sealey

Photograph of Bojan Louis


Bojan Louis

Bojan Louis (Diné) is the author of the poetry collection Currents (BkMk Press 2017), which received a 2018 American Book Award, and the nonfiction chapbook Troubleshooting Silence in Arizona (The Guillotine Series 2012). He is an assistant professor in the Creative Writing and American Indian Studies programs at the University of Arizona.

Learn more about Bojan Louis

Desert Nights Rising Stars Writers Conference Faculty 2019 Carmen Giménez Smith


Carmen Giménez Smith

Born in New York, poet Carmen Giménez Smith is the daughter of South American immigrants. A CantoMundo fellow, she earned a BA in English from San Jose State University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa's Writer Workshop. She writes lyric essays as well as poetry, and is the author of the poetry chapbook Casanova Variations (2009), the full-length collection Odalisque in Pieces (2009), the memoir Bring Down the Little Birds: On Mothering, Art, Work, and Everything Else (2010).

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Justin Petropoulos

Justin Petropoulos is the author of two collections of poetry, Eminent Domain (Marsh Hawk Press 2011), selected by Anne Waldman for the 2010 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and <legend> </legend> (Jaded Ibis Press 2013), a collaborative work with multimedia artist, Carla Gannis.

Learn more about Justin Petropoulos