Events

Celebrate the publication of fist of wind by Nefertiti Asanti with readings from KB Brookins, Linda La, and Arisa White, hosted by Imani Sims of RADAR Productions. fist of wind is a lyrical testimony that centers the Black body as a site of healing and transformation. This chapbook/collection of poetry published by Foglifter Press explores the lived experience of menstruation marked by pain and the liminal existence of Black folk as magical and mortal.

‍fist of wind draws from magical realism to ask: If pain is information, what does individual and collective Black pain tell us about our world and about ourselves? How do we embody healing in this lifetime and beyond?

Nefertiti Asanti is the first winner of the Start A Riot! Chapbook Prize. In response to rapid gentrification and displacement of QTBIPOC+ literary artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in celebration of these communities’ revolutionary history, Foglifter Press, RADAR Productions, and Still Here San Francisco joined forces to create a chapbook prize for local emerging queer and trans Black writers, indigenous writers, and writers of color. Each year, one chapbook author is awarded publication, a $1,000 prize, and promotion, as well as a spot on RADAR’s Sister Spit tour.

‍Copies of fist of wind will be available for purchase at the MoAD Bookstore.

Author

Nefertiti Asanti (they/them) is a poet who has received fellowships and residencies from the Watering Hole, Lambda Literary, Anaphora Arts, Winter Tangerine, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Nefertiti’s work can be found at AfroPunk, Foglifter, Santa Clara Review, Split Lip Magazine, and elsewhere.

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Imani Sims is a Queer Black Femme with plant witch tendencies and a love for craft cocktails. Her obsession with Afrofuturism is reflected in the number of books on her shelves and the number of times she’s read Octavia Butler’s entire collection of work. Imani spent 20 years as a poet, eventually got published [a few times] and now spends most of her awake hours reading and walking her tiny French bulldog.

She is committed to integrating art, ritual, and the Black aesthetic into experiences designed for QTBIPOC folk and exercises that muscle as Executive Director of RADAR Productions in the Bay Area.

Featured Readers

KB Brookins is a Black queer nonbinary miracle. They are the author of How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022) and Freedom House (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2023). Follow them online at @earthtokb.

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Arisa White is an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Colby College. She is the author of Who’s Your Daddy, co-editor of Home Is Where You Queer Your Heart, and co-author of Biddy Mason Speaks Up, the second book in the Fighting for Justice Series for young readers. As the creator of the Beautiful Things Project, Arisa curates poetic collaborations that center narratives of queer people of color.

She is a Cave Canem fellow and serves on the board of directors for Foglifter and Nomadic Press. To learn more about her other publications and projects, visit arisawhite.com.

Linda La is an international, multidisciplinary SAG-AFTRA performer, recording artist, writer, teacher, host and model. From the Boogie Down Bronx, New York, her work infuses elements of Hip Hop, R&B, House, Vogue and Spoken Word poetry. Born out of the Iconic House of La’Beija, her sound has been articled in both AFROPUNK, The Fader The New York Times, W Magazine and more.

She has curated performances with The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, La Mama Experimental Theater, New York Live Arts and VICE. Last year, she graciously performed under the direction of Bill T. Jones and Lee Mingwei at the MET and made her return to the stage in the Obie Award winning The Fire this Time Theater Festival. This year, she made her television film debut in the role of on the hit series finale of POSE on FX.

She is currently working on her first recorded studio project set to include original music and poetry. Her work can be found on all streaming platforms and archived at the Brooklyn Museum in the “Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall” exhibit. Find out more at Lindala.world.

This program was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and co-presented with Foglifter Press.