Emotional Historians Reading - Jon Sands, José Olivarez, and Sylvia Ewing

Emotional Historians Poets Jon Sands, José Olivarez, and Sylvia Ewing will give readings of their works. 

This event will be held in person outdoors at 57th Street Books. At this time, our stores continue to require masking and strongly encourage vaccinations. 

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Presented in partnership with the Emotional Historians Workshop. 

About It's Not Magic: From jaunts through New York subways, to a Cincinnati Waffle House, to a chance encounter with one's future life partner, Sands writes in turns autobiographically and imaginatively, drawing on voices from his private world and the public sphere to create an urgent portrait of youth that is almost rebellious in its sheer, persistent joy. Nostalgic and vivid, this collection of poems is written reverie. Selected by Richard Blanco, Jon Sands is the winner of the 2018 National Poetry Series. 

About Jon Sands: Jon Sands is a winner of the 2018 National Poetry Series, selected for his second book, It's Not Magic (Beacon Press, 2019). He is the facilitator of the Emotional Historians workshop, a series of generative writing workshops that you can find out more about on Instagram @IAmJonSands. His work has been featured in the New York Times, as well as anthologized in The Best American Poetry. For over a decade, he's facilitated a weekly writing workshop for adults at Baily House, an HIV/AIDS service center in East Harlem. 

About Citizen Illegal: In this stunning debut, poet José Olivarez explores the stories, contradictions, joys, and sorrows that embody life in the spaces between Mexico and America. He paints vivid portraits of good kids, bad kids, families clinging to hope, life after the steel mills, gentrifying barrios, and everything in between. Drawing on the rich traditions of Latinx and Chicago writers like Sandra Cisneros and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olivarez creates a home out of life in the in-between. Combining wry humor with potent emotional force, Olivarez takes on complex issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and immigration using an everyday language that invites the reader in. Olivarez has a unique voice that makes him a poet to watch. 

About José Olivarez: José Olivarez is from Calumet City, Il. He is the author & editor of Promises of Gold (forthcoming), Por Siempre (forthcoming), Breakbeat Poets Volume 4: Latinext, and Citizen Illegal. 

About Comfort and Joy: True happiness comes from within. Comfort and Joy: Stories of Hope, Meditiations for Happiness, offers a look inside the faith practices of a diverse group of happy people, interspersed with step-by-step directions for meditation. 

About Sylvia Ewing: Sylvia Ewing is a curator and creator. Her poetry has appeared in the Chicago Reader Poetry Corner, and several Emotional Historians chapbooks. Sylvia is the recipient of the 2020 Illinois Humanities Award, an award-winning former journalist, and author of Comfort and Joy: Stories of Hope, Meditations for Happiness.