An Evening With Danez Smith

Join us September 15 at 7pm for a very special evening with prize-winning poet, performer, and cultural critic Danez Smith. Queer Spectra Arts Festival, in partnership with Under the Umbrella Bookstore and the Westminster University Gender Studies Program, is honored to present a very special evening with prize-winning poet, performer, and cultural critic Danez Smith. Join us Tuesday, September 15 at 7pm to enjoy live poetry, a moderated conversation with Dr. Eileen Chanza Torres, and book signings. At Gore Auditorium in the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business, Westminster University (1840 S 1300 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84105) This event is free - please RSVP to reserve your spot! Danez Smith will give remarks and a reading, followed by a moderated conversation with Eileen Chanza Torres. After a brief audience Q&A, there will be a book signing with the author; books will be available for purchase on-site, thanks to Under the Umbrella Book Store. Danez Smith is the author of four collections including Don’t Call Us Dead, Homie, and, most recently, Bluff. They are also the curator of Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes. For their work, Danez has won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and have been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, as well as an array of grants, fellowships, and residencies including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Princeton Arts Fellowship. Smith teaches at the Randolph College MFA program and the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul, and lives in Minneapolis with their people. https://www.danezsmithpoet.com/ https://www.instagram.com/danez_smif/?hl=en Notes on Accessibility • Face masks are required for all attendees at this event, and will be provided for free. Masks are required in order to make this event accessible for all community members, especially our most vulnerable. • The Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business is wheelchair accessible. Enter through the West Entrance to directly access the Gore Auditorium. The West entrance has automatic doors. There is an elevator to the left of the main entrance to access the Gore Auditorium. There are four wheelchair seats available seats. • ASL Interpretation will be present at this event. • If you have other accessibility requests, please reach out to Rae Luebbert at [email protected]. Questions? Reach out to Queer Spectra Organizer Rae Luebbert at [email protected]. This project is supported in part by Creative West which receives support in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.