FANTASTIC NEWS! I’m excited to resume hosting Poet Laureate Office Hours at The Mercantile Library! Office Hours is an open-ended opportunity to talk with me about poetry, workshop some poems of your own, or even write some together. December’s theme will be announced shortly. No need to register — just show up!

Saturday, December 7, 2024, 10 AM-2 PM

Come for a little or stay for a while!

GreenLight Fund Cincinnati ‘s 5th annual Cinnovation will showcase HomeStart’s Renew Collaborative and its impactful eviction prevention efforts over the last two years, marking its fifth significant investment in Cincinnati’s future.

I will be debuting a poem commissioned by GreenLight Fund Cincinnati for this occasion.

About the festival: “In a year marked by significant transitions—elections, conflicts abroad, environmental challenges, and more—how can we find our footing? Some authors turn to the past for guidance. They ponder questions, like: What defines us? What events shaped our journey? Where did it all begin? And what possibilities lie ahead? Come join us at the 47th Annual ODU Literary Festival as we honor writers who explore literature's power to anchor us, offering insights into our pasts to inspire visions of our futures.”  For more: https://www.odu.edu/life/culture/arts/litfest

Community + Polyvocality: A Craft Talk and Generative Workshop

In this hybrid craft talk and generative workshop, Yalie Saweda Kamara, Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate, will present multimedia poetry projects that center community and polyvocality and explore the necessity of collaboration, tension, vulnerability, dialogue, and the indispensable value of failure in the artistic process. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in the creation of a polyvocal poem which will honor the multiple voices, gifts, and perspectives inherent in the gathering space. For more: https/inkubator.litcleveland.org/

Poetry and literary arts reading series based in Toledo, Ohio, bringing together artists of all styles. Curated by Jonie McIntire, Toledo Poet Laureate.

Join us for the final Dakin Fellows reading for the Sewanee Writers Conference. Reading features Yalie Saweda Kamara, Sean Enfield, Franky D. Gonzalez, Joanna Pearson, and Maya Salameh. Masks required!

Celebrate the kickoff of Tunde Wey’s residency on this special night with a meet and greet, remarks by Duncanson Program Manager Kareem Simpson, a reading from Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara, and more. For more: click here!

I will be virtually visiting Professor Dees's Advanced Poetry Workshop

I will be visiting UC Clermont for National Poetry Month, participating in readings and visiting Professor Phoebe Reeves’s class.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers and The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center invite you to an evening with Percival Everett as he discusses he latest book, James, with Cincinnati Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara.

The #askmewhoiam conference brings together youth and youth serving professionals to promote better understanding of youth culture, specifically as it relates to transition-age youth and young adults with serious mental health challenges. We are eager to facilitate dialogue regarding the cultural shift needed to fully engage transition-age youth in decisions that affect them in life, treatment, and beyond. Our 2024 theme is Strengthening Connections. Yalie Saweda Kamara, Ph.D. will be the conference’s lunch keynote speaker.

Join us for a star-studded evening of poetry and conversation featuring Kimberly "DuWaup" Bolden, Marcus Donaldson, David Moody, and Zeda Stew, and hosted by Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara.

Event co-sponsored by Xavier University and The Mercantile Library

Free & open to the public. Registration required.
Kennedy Auditorium (Conaton Learning Commons 412)

I’ll be signing your copies of Besaydoo! Please stop by and say hello!

In creative writing, the focus is product over process. Producing pages for publication is necessary, but when that goal takes over, what is lost? For women especially, writing solely to publish can lead to burnout. Generative writing might be an answer. These panelists, women who work in both academic and community spaces, champion writing for writing’s sake. Their interactive panel will reclaim writing as a process of discovery and invite attendees to try a few favorite generative prompts.

Panelists: Emma Hudelson, Yalie Saweda Kamara, Melissa Fraterrigo, Amy Shearn, and Lisa Low

In this two-part event, I will be reading from my debut poetry collection Besaydoo (Milkweed Editions, 2024) and facilitating a writing workshop “Synergies of People and Place.”

Description: Who were we, who are we, and who will be by virtue of movement? Through discussion and examinations of poetry, moving and still images, and music, this generative writing workshop considers the ways in which migration and location inform our identities and how our presences conversely impact the spaces we frequent, encounter, or inhabit.

To register, please visit: https://www.womenwriting.org/