February 14, 2008 (Vol. 7, No. 2)

Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis to Visit Lehman Feb. 21

Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis will be the featured guest artist in a variety show, entitled "Freedom Dreams: African American Artistic Insights, Past and Present." The show will take place on Thursday, February 21, from 12:30-1:45 p.m. in the Lovinger Theatre. Sponsored by the Department of African and African-American Studies, this event is free and open to the public.

Ellis received the 2005 Whiting Writers' Award and the 2006 John C. Zacharis First Book Award for The Maverick Room, his first full poetry collection. He is also the author of The Good Junk (Take Three #1, Graywolf, 1996), The Genuine Negro Hero (Kent State University Press, 2001), and the Song On (WinteRed Press, 2005). His Breakfast and Blackfist: Notes for Black Poets is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press, Poets on Poetry Series. He is a contributing editor to Callaloo and Poets and Writers.

His work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Poetry, Grand Street, Tin House, Ploughshares and The Best American Poetry, 1997 and 2001. He has received fellowships and grants from The Fine Arts Work Center, the Ohio Arts Council, Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College and a faculty member of The Lesley University low-residency M.F.A program in Cambridge, Mass.

Accompanying Ellis will be vocalist Masi Osseo-Asare. The program will also feature performances by Lehman students Ekemini Ekere, Ritchie James, Tatiana Hickson, and Tiffany Barksdale in "Deliver Daniel" and "Wade in Water." Malika Forbes will sing "Redemption Song" and Ziomara Whitfiled will perform "Strange Fruit," a song made popular by Billie Holiday.

For more information on this event, call 718-960-7720.

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