Poetry & Conversation: Abdul Ali & Venus Thrash

Poets Abdul Ali and Venus Thrash read from and talk about their work.Abdul Ali, author of Trouble Sleeping, winner of the 2014 New Issues Poetry Prize, teaches in the English department at Towson University. His poetry, essays, and interviews have appeared in Gargoyle, A Gathering of the Tribes, National Public Radio, New Contrast (South Africa), The Atlantic, and the anthology Full Moon on K Street, among other publications. He has received grants, awards, and fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, American University, College Language Association, and the Mount Vernon Poetry Festival at The George Washington University. He is a member of the board of directors of the Hurston/Wright Foundation.Venus Thrash is the author of The Fateful Apple which was longlisted  for the 2015 PEN America Open Book Award and was a Split This Rock recommended poetry book of 2014.  She was a finalist in the 2012 Jean Feldman poetry prize and the 2009 Arktoi Books poetry prize. Her poetry is published in the Beloit Poetry Journal, Arkansas Review, and Beltway Quarterly. She has read at the Split This Rock Poetry Conference, the Atlas Center for the Performing Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Library of Congress.Read "Uptown Looking Down" and other poems by Abdul Ali.Read "Ritual" and other poems by Venus Thrash.Recorded On: Wednesday, May 13, 2015