Day Eight is pleased announce several opportunities for the public to hear live readings from Diaspora Café: D.C., an anthology of Afro-LatinX poetry edited by Jeffrey Banks and Maritza Rivera. Diaspora Café: D.C. was released August 1, 2022, and initial press includes coverage and reviews in Washington Independent Review of Books, Latin Opinion Baltimore, Hola Cultura, and Washington City Paper.
The review by Angela Maria Spring in WIRB says, [the collection] “includes a wonderful arrangement of poems by our community’s poets from the African diaspora and touches on topics from celebrating Caribbean beats on DC streets to the struggle of anti-Blackness and racism from both white people and also from within African-American and Afro-Latinx communities.”
The review by Emma Veon in WCP includes, “Diaspora Café: D.C. celebrates and preserves difference, recognizing the breadth of Afro Latinx people who ’embody many shades of a ‘Brown.’” Banks and Rivera assembled 34 poems from 14 writers in this intimate anthology representing the region’s dynamic Afro Latinx culture… The poems are by and about Afro Latinx creatives, and the collection, so intimate and honest, generously welcomes unfamiliar readers to a fictive cafe bustling with life.”
A book launch celebration for Diaspora Café will occur within Day Eight’s annual community celebration, Saturday, October 1, at 7:00 pm. Read below for the full list of upcoming live reading events, and to schedule a book event for Diaspora Café: D.C. in your community contact Admin<at>DayEight.org.
The winter 2022/2023 reading events are supported in part by grant from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of Latino Affairs.
October 6th, 7pm, George Washington University
On Thursday, October 6, at 7:00 pm, Day Eight will be collaborating with ALIANZA, a student organization at George Washington University for Afro-LatinX students, on a reading, Q&A, and workshop in the University Student Center at George Washington University (800 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20052) in room 309. Editors Jeffrey Banks and Maritza Rivera, and Diaspora Café: D.C. contributors Hermond Palmer, Saleem Abdal-Khaaliq, Sistah Joy, and Nick Leininger will read their poems, and they will be in conversation with Karla Madera Tejada, the president of ALIANZA.
October 15th, 3pm, American Poetry Museum
On the final day of National Hispanic American Heritage Month, Saturday, October 15, at 3:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks, Maritza Rivera, and contributors Christine Williams, Hermond Palmer, Stephani E. D. McDow, and Nick Leininger will read from Diaspora Café: D.C. at the American Poetry Museum (716 Monroe St NE #25th, Washington, DC 20017).
October 25th, 7pm, Marymount University
On Tuesday, October 25, at 7:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks and Maritza Rivera will have an editors’ conversation and reading at Marymount University (1000 N Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22201).
November 5th, 2pm, RhizomeDC
On Saturday, November 5, at 2:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks, Maritza Rivera, and contributors Christine Williams, Sistah Joy, Stephani E. D. McDow, and Nick Leininger will read from Diaspora Café: D.C. at RhizomeDC, a nonprofit community arts space (6950 Maple St NW, Washington, DC 20012).
November 13th, 2pm, The Writer’s Center
On Sunday, November 13, at 2:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks, Maritza Rivera, and contributors Hermond Palmer, Sistah Joy, Stephani E. D. McDow, Nick Leininger, Saleem Abdal-Khaaliq, and Allison Whittenberg will read from Diaspora Café: D.C. at The Writer’s Center (4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815).
February 2nd, 7pm, Casey Community Center
On Thursday, February 2, at 7:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks and Maritza Rivera will have an editors’ conversation and reading at Casey Community Center (810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877).
February 11, 2pm, Quince Orchard Library
And on Saturday, February 11, at 2:00 pm, Jeffrey Banks, Maritza Rivera, and contributors Sistah Joy and Stephani E. D. McDow will read from Diaspora Café: D.C. at Quince Orchard Library (15831 Quince Orchard Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878).
Thank you for supporting local Afro-LatinX poets and we hope to see you at one of these events.