The American Center in Moscow’s monthly MEET A POET series returns on September 26 with American poet JORDAN E. FRANKLIN. Tune in online at 6:00 p.m. MSK to hear her read her poems live and answer questions from the audience!

Author of a poetry collection when the signals come home (Winner of the 2020 Gatewood Prize) and a chapbook boys in the electric age, Jordan E. Franklin brings nineteen of her poems to share with the online audience. To get a sneak peek at these poems in Russian and English click here.

Praise for Jordan E. Franklin poetry collection when the signals come home from Prageeta Sharma, the judge of the 2020 Gatewood Prize:

“The first thing that greeted me when I read this stunning collection was the power of polyphonic verse here, so many voices and ranges: poems about family narrated with indelible soundtracks, deep building emotion, and with added bonus tracks structuring the poignant and perceptual throughout. I simply adore how music and place are deeply entwined, and the dedications and references create such a fierce expanse of scope and pitch making these poems a veritable collection of engaged poetics. WHEN THE SIGNALS COME HOME is full of potent signals, striking sonorous language, and resolute songs to accompany both addresses, dedications, and storytelling of longing, hope, and grief. We are immersed in popular music references from Prince to The Talking Heads in order to amplify the sonic detail and history of times in these poems. The deep ferocity in these poems is rich, particularly in how the speaker manages to address racial inequity, the strife of sickness and death, and the necessity of naming the racialized self in place, possession, poetry and in song."

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About the guest speaker/poet:

Jordan E. Franklin is a poet from Brooklyn, NY. She earned her MFA from Stony Brook Southampton and is currently a doctoral candidate at Binghamton University. Her work has appeared in The Southampton Review, Breadcrumbs, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Frontier, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2017 James Hearst Poetry Prize, the 2020 Gatewood Prize and a finalist of the 2019 Furious Flower Poetry Prize. She is the author of a poetry collection, when the signals come home (Switchback Books), and a chapbook, boys in the electric age (Tolsun Books). 

About the moderator:

Aaron Landsman is a theater artist, researcher and teacher based in New York City. He is an Abrons Arts Center Social Practice Artist in Residence, a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow and 2014-16 Princeton Arts Fellow. His recent awards include a two-year grant from Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program and an Independent Project Grant from the Architectural League of New York, as well as a residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center. His book The City We Make Together, co-authored with Mallory Catlett, was just published by the University of Iowa Press in 2022. He teaches Theater and Interdisciplinary Humanities courses at Princeton University and has also taught at Juilliard, NYU, Bard and Bennington, and guest lectures widely.

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ALL AMERICAN CENTER IN MOSCOW EVENTS ARE FREE OF CHARGE / ВСЕ МЕРОПРИЯТИЯ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО ЦЕНТРА В МОСКВЕ БЕСПЛАТНЫ

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To watch this event live, tune in to the American Center in Moscow’s YouTube channel and VK page on September 26 at 6:00 p.m. MSK. You can also watch the recording of this event on the same platforms after the event’s end.

You can register below and leave your valid email address to receive a reminder 30 minutes before the online event begins.

To join other AMC Online programs, please check the American Center’s website and TimePad calendars.

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