ABOVE PHOTO: Angela Davis.
(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)
First Person Arts is proud to announce that Angela Davis – activist, author, and scholar – has joined the lineup for the 12th Annual First Person Arts Festival, presented by Penn’s Master of Liberal Arts Program and Harmelin Media, Thursday, November 14, 2013 at 7PM; Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia. Tickets are $25 and available at poetry.firstpersonarts.org and 267-402-2055.
In The Politics of Poetry, presented by PECO, on Thursday, November 14th, Davis will engage in a conversation with award-winning authors Sonia Sanchez and Ana Castillo on the importance of documenting heritage, the power of words and the devastating effects when that power is stripped away. The event includes a Q & A and book signing by all artists.
Sanchez, a leader of the Black Arts Movement, has dedicated her life to advancing peace and women’s rights through her writing and work with organizations like MADRE and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Chicana author Castillo tackles feminism, censorship, and workers’ rights in her writing, and was the subject of censorship herself; her books were banned when Tuscon, Arizona shut down the Mexican-American Studies program in public schools across the city.
As an activist and scholar, Davis has been a staunch advocate for racial, economic, and social justice. Her recent work has focused on the ties between incarceration, poverty, and racial discrimination.
The evening includes an opening performance of “Ghetto Bolero” by Las Gallas. “Ghetto Bolero” re-imagines the traditional Latin American boleros from a woman’s point of view. Las Gallas (Julia Lopez, Magda Martinez, and Michelle Angela Ortiz) is a Philadelphia-based multi-disciplinary artists’ collective whose work combines theatre, visual arts, film, poetry, spoken word, and literature.
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