February 18, 2021 | Poetry Café

San Miguel Poetry Café Honors Black History Month With Three Outstanding African-American Poets

In honor of Black History Month, currently celebrated in five countries, the San Miguel Poetry Café will feature three outstanding African-American poets: Iain Haley Pollock, Kathryn H. Ross, and Michael Kleber-Diggs. They will read via Zoom on Thursday, February 18, 2021, 5:00-6:00 PM CST. The online event is free of charge; pre-registration is required.

Iain Haley Pollock is author of two poetry collections, Ghost, Like a Place (Alice James Books, 2018), which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and Spit Back a Boy (University of Georgia Press, 2011), winner of the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Individual poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, The Baffler, and The New York Times Magazine. Pollock serves as English Department Chair at Rye Country Day School and is a member of the poetry faculty at the Solstice MFA program of Pine Manor College. His book Ghost, Like a Place, may be purchased here: bookshop.org.

Kathryn H. Ross is the author of Black Was Not A Label (2019), a hybrid memoir of essays and poetry on racial trauma, identity, and faith, published with indie press PRONTO. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Sybil Journal, MORIA Literary Magazine, Linden Avenue, Pidgeonholes Magazine, and The Pomona Valley Review. She is a reader and reviewer for Whale Road Review and The Rumpus, and a columnist for Pasadena Now, where she writes a monthly series on race and culture. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and writing from Azusa Pacific University. Her book Black Was Not a Label may be purchased here: bookshop.org. Her full works appear on her website speakthewritelanguage.com.

Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June 2021. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Academy of American Poets’ “Poem-a-Day,” Poetry Northwest, Potomac Review, Memorious, Rain Taxi, Lit Hub, McSweeney’s, Water~Stone Review, Midway Review, and in anthologies. Michael is a past Fellow with the Givens Foundation for African-America Literature, a past-winner of the Loft Mentor Series in Poetry, and former Poet Laureate of Anoka County libraries. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and supported by the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation. More information at michaelkleberdiggs.com.

Founded in January 2016, the San Miguel Poetry Café convenes monthly, September through April, and also holds special events. The all-volunteer organization presents local and visiting poets, both established and emerging. If you would like to be considered for an upcoming reading, please submit sample poems and a brief bio to poetrycafe@sanmiguelliterarysala.org.