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“…Advice at the beginning of the revolution” with Michael Warr + Tongo Eisen-Martin
07/19/2023 @ 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
As part of our Press Room series, join us for a reading and discussion with Bay Area authors, Michael Warr and Tongo Eisen-Martin (San Fransisco Poet Laureate) about their work, the nature of protest, and how the historical acts of revolution during the heyday of the Black Power Movement in the Bay Area have influenced literary activism in a post-George Floyd era of radical social change.
“. . .Advice at the beginning of the revolution” is a line from Tongo Eisen-Martin’s poem “A Good Earth“ and serves as a framework for this important conversation.
**We ask that all attendees wear masks during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments.**
RSVP on Eventbrite here.
Tongo Eisen-Martin
Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book titled, “Someone’s Dead Already” was nominated for a California Book Award. His book “Heaven Is All Goodbyes” was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, was shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. His latest book “Blood On The Fog” was released this fall in the City Lights Pocket Poets series and named one of the New York Times poetry books of the year. In 2020, he co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. He is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate.
Michael Warr
Poet Michael Warr’s literary honors include San Francisco Arts Commission Awards in 2023 and 2021 and the 2020 Berkeley Poetry Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. His books include Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin (W.W. Norton), The Armageddon of Funk, We Are All The Black Boy, and Power Lines: A Decade of Poetry From Chicago’s Guild Complex (Tia Chucha Press). He is a San Francisco Library Laureate and recipient of a Creative Work Fund Award for his multimedia project Tracing Poetic Memory, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature, Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award, Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poets Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His poetry is translated into Chinese as part of “Two Languages / One Community” a collaborative project with poet and translator Chun Yu. Michael is the former Deputy Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora, a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and founding Director of the Guild Literary Complex.