Virtual Masterclass And Reading At The Aldrich In Ridgefield

Press release from The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum:

Nov. 12, 2020

2020)—The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to announce that the award-winning spoken-word performer, poet, playwright, author, writing teacher, and former journalist, Patricia Smith will host a virtual masterclass and poetry reading, on Thursday, November 19 in conjunction with the current exhibition Rudy Shepherd: Somebody’s Child, on view at the Museum through November 29, 2020.

A master of poetic forms from her Motown sonnets to elegant ghazals, Smith’s poetry fearlessly engages with America’s continuous war on Black bodies. Registration is required for both events at www.thealdrich.org.

The 90-minute masterclass workshop will take place on November 19 from 2 to 3:30 pm and is limited to thirty participants.

“My workshop will help writers consider the factors of originality and unpredictability as they approach their work, especially work that is difficult emotionally, or poems addressing huge, often-overwrought topics such as love, war, and racism,” says Smith.

At 7 pm on November 19, Smith will conduct a virtual poetry reading of selected works followed by a Q&A. Her dazzling performances earned her the individual championship at the National Poetry Slam a record four times.

Signed copies of Smith’s latest poetry collection, Incendiary Art, will be available at Books on the Common in downtown Ridgefield, CT.

Patricia Smith is the award-winning author of eight books of poetry, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 2018 NAACP Image Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Poetry magazine, the Paris Review, The New York Times, TriQuarterly, Tin House, the Washington Post, and in both Best American Poetry and Best American Essays. Smith is a professor at the College of Staten Island and the MFA program at Sierra Nevada College, as well as a frequent instructor at prestigious writing conferences.

This press release was produced by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. The views expressed here are the author's own.