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In this bold hybrid collection of poetry and micro-flash fiction, the award-winning interdisciplinary writer explores what happens when god is a Black woman in a town and multiple universes in the middle of nowhere?Third Place Books is thrilled to welcome back poet and artist Anastacia-Reneé to our Seward Park store! Alongside poet and musician Gary Copeland Lilley, she will be discussing her new trans-genre book, Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere. This event is free and open to the public.
For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
About Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere. . .
What if god were a Black woman? What if there were other universes, and in each universe other Black woman gods? One million versions of god, and one million saints to watch over us? And what if this Black woman god was placed here on our earth?
These are just a few of the questions Anastacia-Reneé asks in this daring and mind-bending hybrid collection. A compelling blend of poetry, micro-flash fiction, and sci-fi Afrofuturism with a prose storyline and characters that connect through family, time, and place. Anastacia-Reneé paints world(s) rich with wonder and and the paranormal as she peers into the lives of the everyday people and the spectacular creatures inhabiting not just our neighborhoods, but other dimensions. Hers is a universe of striking variety—monsters, nontraditional saints, witches, zombies, the couple in the apartment next door, the wise elders from down the block, and gods watching over us all—as well as community and connectedness.
Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere is about interstellar ancestry, community and spirituality, about the things we invoke conjure and rely on to maintain our unwavering joy as we move through life. Anastacia-Reneé’s power lies in her spellbinding storytelling—her ability to bring forth lovingly rendered characters captured in powerful brief bursts of lyrical poetry, her ability to build worlds, within worlds and the ways in which she dares us to fully love ourselves and see each other in all our complexity.
Praise for Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere. . .
"In Anastacia-Reneé’s hands, everything ‘above & below & in the middle’ is teeming with life—stretching beyond the margin—vintage and young at the same time. A gumbo both peaceful and pleasureful and impossibly wrought with the pain of context and intention. The poems of everything, everywhere, all at once. And ain’t that the Blackest, most alive thing to behold?"
—Aurielle Marie, author of Gumbo Ya Ya
“Anastacia-Reneé's extraordinary, intriguing, afrofuturistic, and mystical collection explores family, community, grief, and love.”
—Booklist
“An exploration of the mystic within community, told through poetry and flash fiction… Best when read aloud, this narrative can be taken in small quantities as individual narrators tell their stories or taken as one whole, greater than the many stories contained within.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Reneé’s poetry and flash fiction runs the whole emotional gamut. . . What comes from all of these stories, bound together by lucile and her sisters, is a sense of community saturated with tenderness, disappointment, pain and happiness. It’s marvellous."
—Locus
Anastacia-Reneé is an award-winning cross-genre queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDX speaker and former Seattle Civic Poet. She is the author of Side Notes from the Archivist, (v.), and Forget It. Her mixed media art has been exhibited at the Frye Art Museum and her installation, “Don’t Be Absurd (Alice in Parts),” was chosen by NBC as one of the “Queer Artist of Color Must See LGBTQ Arts Shows.” She has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Artist Trust, Ragdale, Mineral School and others. Reneé’s poetry, fiction and nonfiction has been anthologized and published widely. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Gary Copeland Lilley is the author of eight books of poetry, the most recent being The Bushman’s Medicine Show (Lost Horse Press, 2017), and a chapbook, The Hog Killing (Blue Horse Press, 2018). He is originally from North Carolina and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. He has received the DC Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry and is published in numerous anthologies and journals, including The Best American Poetry 2014, Willow Springs, The Swamp, Waxwing, Taos Journal of Poetry and Art, and African American Review. He is a Cave Canem Fellow.
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Third Place Books Events Code of Conduct: Third Place Books is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of event attendees and guest authors, during both online and in-store events. By registering for this event, you are agreeing to refrain from engaging in inappropriate behavior and harassment of any kind throughout the course of this event (i.e. racial slurs, profanity, hate speech, spam comments, etc.). Please note that any participants who engage in inappropriate behavior or harassment of any kind will be immediately ejected from the event.
For media inquiries, access inquiries, or questions about our Covid-19 policies, please email [email protected] or call our Lake Forest Park store at (206) 366-3311.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
5041 Wilson Ave S, Seattle, WA, United States, Washington 98118
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