Department of English

• Wednesday, April 3, 2024 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Kelly Writers House

Caroline Rothstein Oral Poetry Program
Co-sponsored by The Excelano Project
Hosted by Sophia Huang
Calendar link
Register here to attend in person

Imani Davis is a queer, Black, & neurodivergent writer from Brooklyn. A recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, The Mellon Foundation, Lambda Literary, StoryStudio Chicago, and the Stadler Center for Poetry, they’re currently a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Harvard, where they also earned their M.A. in English. Imani holds a B.A. in English and Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania as well. It was at Penn, & at Kelly Writers House specifically, where they became a proud member of The Excelano Project. Imani’s poetry appears with The Academy of American Poets, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, PBS Newshour's Brief But Spectacular series, The Poetry Foundation’s Ours Poetica, Poet Lore, The Rumpus, Shade Literary Arts, The Offing, Brooklyn Poets, Poetry Daily, Frontier Poetry, Honey Literary, TEDx,  ROOKIE magazine, and elsewhere. Notably, they have performed at the Teen Vogue Activism Summit, the Apollo Theater, Brave New Voices, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Nuyorican Poets Café. Imani misses their friend Jamie very much.

E.Jin is an adoptee writer who is based in New York. They have received nominations for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in TriQuarterly, The Nashville Review, The Shade Journal, and others. They are a Roots. Wounds. Words., Lambda Literary, and AAWW Margins Fellow.

Wes Matthews is a poet and essayist from the westside of Detroit whose work has appeared in 68to05, Gulf Coast, Muzzle, Beloit, TEDx, PBS News Hour, and elsewhere. He served as the 2018-19 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate and received congressional recognition for  "outstanding and invaluable service to the community." Wes graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023 with a degree in anthropology and religious studies. He is currently working on a Masters of Theological Studies (MTS) degree at Harvard Divinity School.