2015
Invited Talk and Reading. “James Baldwin’s Political Interior,” Institute for African
American Studies, University of Georgia, October 22.
Invited Talk. “James Baldwin’s ‘Poetics’ of the 1970s,” Carter G. Woodson Center,
University of Virginia, October 16.
Invited Talk. “Who Can Afford to Improvise?: James Baldwin and Black Music,”
Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 8.
Invited Talk. “Robert Hayden’s ‘Thus Marimba’d Night,’: Afro-Modernism and
Contemporary Poetics.” July 28. Don’t Deny My Voice: NEH Seminar, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
Invited Talk. “‘How to Heal A Mouth. . .’: Music and the African American Literary
Imagination.” July 28. Don’t Deny My Voice: NEH Seminar, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
2014
Invited Talk. “Billie Holiday in Gayl Jones’ Corregidora. The New School for Social
Research. November 12.
Poetry Reading. Creative Writing Program, Brown University, October 7.
Conference Paper. “‘But Amen is the Price’: James Baldwin and Ray Charles in ‘The
Hallelujah Chorus’ (Revisited),” James Baldwin: Transatlantic Commuter,
Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France. June 6.
Poetry Reading: Palestinian Festival of Literature, Haifa, Israel. June 3.
Poetry Reading. PEN World Voices Festival 2014, Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House,
New York University, New York City, May 2.
Invited Talk. “Billie Holiday – Lyricist,” Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, New York
University, New York City, April 30.
Invited Talk. “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?: James Baldwin and Ray Charles in The
Hallelujah Chorus Revisited. Union College, Schenectady, NY, April 29.
Poetry Reading. Hutchins/Du Bois Institute and Grolier Books, Cambridge, MA April 28.
Invited Talk. “Jimmy’s Blues,” James Baldwin This Time, New York Live Arts, New York
City, April 26.
Invited Dramatic Reading. “Jimmy at High Noon,” James Baldwin This Time, New York
Live Arts, New York City, April 26. New York City.
2013
Interview. “Soul Music and Contemporary Poetry,” University of the Air, Wisconsin Public
Radio, recorded November 22, 2013. Aired December 29.
Invited Talk. “James Baldwin’s Political Poetics in the 1970s.” UW-Madison. November 21.
Poetry Reading. Odyssey Project, UW-Madison Outreach, November 20.
Poetry Reading. SUNY-Rockport. Rockport, NY. November 2.
Poetry Reading. Black Renaissance Noire Release. New York City. October 25.
Poetry Reading. University of Western Washington. Bellingham, WA. October 11.
Poetry Reading. Poetry Flash. Berkeley, California. October 10.
Poetry Reading. Foothill College. San Jose, California. October 9.
Poetry Reading. University of California-Merced. October 8.
Poetry Reading. California State University at Fullerton. October 7.
Poetry Reading. Willson Center for the Humanities. Athens, GA. September 26.
2012
“I Can Think of Nothing Now But Power: Poetry in the Contemporary American
Imagination,” Framingham Women’s Prison, Nov. 2.
“I Can Think of Nothing Now But Power: Poetry in the Contemporary American
Imagination,” Keene State University, October 3.
Colloquium. “No Time To Rest” Reading James Baldwin’s letters to his Brother David.
Harvard University, Sept 12.
2011
Invited Talk : “Winners And Experimental Fiction,” The New School, Manhattan, November 9, 2011.
Poetry Reading and Q & A. Grinnell College, Sept 28.
Invited Talk. “Inadmissable Evidence: James Baldwin’s Correspondence with his Brother
David, UW-Madison, April 12.
2010
Poetry Reading. Kwani? LitFest, Nairobi, Dec. 12, 2010 (excerpt on YouTube).
Poetry Reading. Indiana Writer’s Conference, June 8, 2010, Bloominton, IN.
2009
Poetry Reading. SLS-Kenya. Lamu, Coast Province, Kenya, December 25, 2009.
Poetry Reading. Poetry at Tech, Georgia Tech University, April 3, 2009.
2008
Invited Talk. “’A Coherent Need for Each Other,’ : Tone in 1980’s R&B Music,” UW-
Madison Department of Afro-American Studies and the Program in Integrated Liberal Studies, November, 12, 2008.
Poetry Reading. University of Wisconsin-Madison. November 13, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Poetry Flash. Berkeley, CA October 16, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Poetry Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz, CA. October 14, 2008.
Poetry Reading. De Witt Clinton High School. Bronx, NY. September 29, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Columbia University. New York City. September 26, 2008.
Poetry Reading. University of Vermont. Burlington, VT. September 25, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Union College. Schenectady, NY. September 22, 2008.
Poetry Reading. The New School for Social Research. New York City. September 3, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Sunday Salon. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. April 13, 2008.
Poetry Reading. Counterbalance Poetry Series. March 3, 2008. Seattle, WA.
Poetry Readings. Associated with US Delegation to Kolkata Book Festival. February 1 – 10, 2008. Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
2007
Poetry Reading. Breadloaf Writers Conference, August 21, 2007, Breadloaf, Vermont.
Poetry Reading. With Reginald McKnight and Binyavanga Wainaina. Georgia Museum of Art, March 3, 2007.
2006
Invited Talk. “Inside-out looks outside-in : James Baldwin, Billie Holiday and an American Poetics Worth its Weight in Breath,” UW-Madison Department of Afro-American Studies, November 3, 2006.
Poetry Reading. The Georgia Review, Tasty World, Athens, Georiga, February 18, 2006.
Poetry Reading. Kwani? Litaray Festival. American Embassy, Nairobi, Kenya, December 21, 2006.
Poetry Reading. With Adrienne Rich, Joy Harjo, Cheryl Clarke, Smith College, April 20, 2006.
Poetry Reading. University of Georgia-Athens, February 3, 2006.
2005
Poetry Reading. Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. Montreal, Québec, March 26, 2005.
2003
Poetry Reading. Adze Gallery. York, U.K. December 18th, 2003.
Poetry Reading. York St. John’s College Lecture Theatre. York, U.K. December 9, 2003.
Poetry Reading. “Riverlines Poetry Series,” City Screens, York, U.K. November 11, 2003.
Poetry Reading. With Adrienne Rich and Sarwat Rumi, Guild Complex, April 12, 2003. Chicago, IL
“From the Concert Hall to the Chicken Shack: Radical Empiricism and Du Bois’s poetics in The Souls of Black Folk.” Du Bois Souls Symposium, April 10, 2003. Madison, WI.
Poetry Reading. With Yusef Komunyakaa and Abena Busia, Du Bois Souls Symposium,
April 12, 2003. Madison WI.
2002
Poetry Reading, Changing Spaces Art Gallery, Albany, NY, July 12, 2002.
Poetry Reading, The Stray Dog, St. Petersburg, Russia. June 24, 2002.
Poetry Reading, Ann Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland, April 25, 2002.
Poetry Reading, Open Door Books, Schenectady, NY, April 15, 2002.
Poetry Reading. Honickman Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2002.
Poetry Reading. Counterbalance Poetry Series. Seattle, WA, March 14, 2002.
2001
“Open the Unusual Door: Visions from the Dark Window in Yusef Komunyakaa’s Early Poems.” Third Annual Conference of the Modernist Studies Association, Rice University, Houston, TX, October 13, 2001.
“Jazz, Jazz, Presence, and a Poetics of the Non-Identical.” Guest lecture in Nellie McKay’s Graduate Seminar on Toni Morrison. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of English, March 22, 2001.
“Crossroads Modernism: Descent and Communion in James Baldwin’s Jazz.” Second Annual Conference of the Modernist Studies Association, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA October 13, 2000.
Poetry Reading. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT August 22, 2000.
“‘Papa Legba, ouvrier barriere por moi passer’: Reckoning with Esu at the Crossroads in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Annual Conference of the National Association of African American Studies, Houston, TX February 25, 2000.