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This event takes place in person at Charis and virtually on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. If you would like to watch the event virtually, please register at the link above. Please note that you must be physically in person to participate in the open mic portion of the event but can listen/view from anywhere. Charis and Cliterati pair up to present an inviting and fierce open mic & reading series that celebrates new voices and seasoned veterans alike. Co-hosted by Karen G. and Theresa Davis, all are welcome to come and share their work. If you would like to participate as a reader or performer, all you need to do is arrive by 7:15 pm ET to sign up on the list. If you are a non-acoustic musician and would like to plug your instrument into our sound system, please contact [email protected] ahead of time to let us know so we can have the right setup for you! There are no genre, style, or form requirements, but please keep your set to under five minutes to allow everyone to have a turn!
This month's featured poet is Amanda Bennett in celebration of Working the Roots a poetry collection that is grounded in spirit, theory, and survival.
On Working the Roots, Ariana Brown (author of We Are Owed.) says: When I think of the kind of writing that really moves me, I think of the elements present in Bennett's poetry: honesty about Black women's interior lives, clarity (because we don't have time to talk around a thing), and a mean metaphor. Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry. The feeling present in these poems welcomes you in to experience the world as the writer does, where "black is a place we carry" and "difficult women are like dynamite." Working the Roots is a book everyone should read, if for no other reason than we all need a little vulnerability to survive this world, and each other.
Amanda Bennett (she/her) is a poet, cultural critic, and conjurer of queer Black feminist futures, raised by the South and rooted in Atlanta. Her debut poetry collection, Working the Roots, is newly published by Querencia Press. Amanda’s writing—grounded in spirit, theory, and survival—has appeared in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Murder Journal, Triangle Poetry, and Feminist Making, Sensing, and Doing. She is the founder of define&empower, a collective and consultancy dedicated to worldmaking through education at the intersections of identity, imagination, and justice. Her Substack, Woo in the Real World, is an altar of essays and invocations where spirituality meets scholarship.
Amanda holds a PhD in Literature and Cultural Studies from Duke University, where she created zines with students, facilitated poetry workshops, and led Black feminism reading groups that bridged the classroom and community. Her writing is an offering—tender, insurgent, and always reaching toward liberation, love, and the sacred in the everyday.
The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.
Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website.
In-person event guidelines:
- All attendees must wear a face mask.
- We will begin seating people at 7:00 PM ET.
- This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. Register at the link above.
- As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.
If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected] or call the store at 404-524-0304.
Please contact us at [email protected] or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions at https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected].
By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email [email protected].
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
184 S. Candler St. , Decatur, GA, United States, Georgia 30030
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