About this Event
Come celebrate the publication of Czaerra Galicinao Ucol's debut poetry collection, Pisces Urges, with literaoke (poetry readings + karaoke from a fantastic lineup TBA) and food at the Rizal Center!!! Masks are required when not actively eating/drinking.
ABOUT PISCES URGES:
"With a tender but dissecting rhythm that cuts through time space, Czaerra Ucol's debut poetry collection, PIsces Urges, pulls its reader along a journey of searching and belonging. Ucol's narrative voice drips with linguistic mastery and dances along syllables as each poem demands to be spoken, sung, and shouted out loud. Meanwhile, their story of becoming sidesteps and twirls outside of the binaries of a postcolonial, heteronormative society. They find and share joys in little but mighty discoveries, from a thrifted barong to the sci-fi tropes hidden in a Filipino mom's quirks. Each page calls to memory what it means to be a young adult, searching for and constructing meaning from the fragmented parts of life, while Ucol's sharp eye calls to question the boundaries of meaning itself. The result is a labyrinth of twists, delicious beats, and the delirious joy in everything queer, weird, and Lake Michigan-adjacent."
ADVANCED PRAISE OF PISCES URGES:
"Czaerra Galicinao Ucol’s Pisces Urges is a sensitive and necessary register of what it means to locate oneself in the world. Here, we see explorations of Filipinx personhood, gender, place, and the joy of being held by one's community. Full of love and yearning, Pisces Urges is an ode to the hard work of living and a beautiful celebration of becoming." — Cathy Linh Che, author of Split
“When I finished reading Pisces Urges, I basked in the afterglow of a story well-told. Czaerra Galiciano Ucol’s emotionally satisfying and assured debut collection took me on the journey of a poet’s loneliness to a sense of belonging, freedom, and exuberance. Their life-affirming journey is set against the backdrop of Midwestern Great Lakes, cicada choruses, and freshwater drum circles. From the joys of baon to breaking gender boundaries with a thrifted barong to the hidden sacrifices of Filipino healthcare workers at the epicenter of the pandemic, and letters to ancestral author Carlos Bulosan, Pisces Urges reclaims Filipino/a/x and queer beauty.” — Mary Grace (“M.G.”) Bertulfo, founder of Banyan: Asian American Writers Collective, Earth-centered writer, poet, teacher, lyricist
ABOUT SAMPAGUITA PRESS:
Sampaguita Press is a nonprofit independent micropress committed to serving underrepresented voices and communities who may not have access to traditional publishing spaces. They publish works by and for Black, Indigenous, and POC artists of all genders and LGBTQIA+ identities.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Rizal Center, 1332 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, United States
USD 0.00