75 - Dante's New South Mega Return (July, August & September 2025)

July, August & September — Dante’s New South Mega ReturnRichard Blanco — Selected by President Obama as the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet, Blanco was the youngest, first Latinx, immigrant, and gay person in that role. In 2023, President Biden awarded him the National Humanities Medal. Born to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, Blanco explores identity, belonging, and place in works like Homeland of My Body, For All of Us, One Today, and The Prince of Los Cocuyos. His honors include the Agnes Starrett Prize, PEN America Beyond Margins Award, Patterson Prize, and Lambda Literary Award. Blanco is Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets, Associate Professor at Florida International University, and Poet Laureate of Miami-Dade County. www.richard-blanco.comSamiya Bashir — Poet, writer, librettist, and multimedia artist described as “a dynamic, shape-shifting machine of perpetual motion.” Her work has been seen from Berlin to Accra, Florence to across the U.S. She is the author of Field Theories (Oregon Book Award) and I Hope This Helps (Nightboat Books, 2025). Honors include the Rome Prize, Pushcart Prize, and Oregon Arts & Culture Council Fellowship, with residencies at MacDowell and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She is reigniting Fire & Inkwell to support LGBTQ+ artists and writers of African descent. www.samiyabashir.comOctavio Quintanilla — Author of If I Go Missing (2014) and Poet Laureate of Texas. His poetry, fiction, translations, and Frontextos (visual poems) appear in Alaska Quarterly Review, Texas Observer, Green Mountains Review, and more. Exhibitions include Southwest School of Art, Weslaco Museum, and the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. Regional editor for Texas Books in Review, poetry editor for Voices de la Luna, and faculty in Literature & Creative Writing at Our Lady of the Lake University. www.octavioquintanilla.com  |  IG: @writeroctavioquintanilla  |  X: @OctQuintanillaVince Herman (Leftover Salmon) — Since co-founding Leftover Salmon in 1989, Herman’s joyful, theatrical energy has defined the band. After moving from West Virginia to Boulder, CO, he briefly joined the Left-Hand String Band before forming Salmon Heads; both merged on New Year’s Eve 1989 to become Leftover Salmon. Decades on, Herman continues to bring his eclectic musical vision to audiences everywhere.Additional Music: Alain Johannes — www.alainjohannes.com  |  Documentary: YouTubeSponsorsThe Pickens County Chamber of CommerceThe CrownBright Hill PressSpecial ThanksUCLA Extension Writing ProgramMercer University PressRed Phone BoothAlain Johannes — original score: www.alainjohannes.comHost Clifford Brooks — The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, Athena Departs, Old Gods: www.cliffbrooks.com/how-to-orderCheck out his Teachable courses, The Working Writer and Adulting with Autism, here: brooks-sessions.teachable.com