Black History Month Poetry Reading and Conversation with Ajanaé Dawkins, Jamie-Lee Elizabeth, Brittany Rogers, and Yalie Saweda Kamara

Please join us for a star-studded evening of poetry and conversation featuring Ajanaé Dawkins, Jamie-Lee Elizabeth, Brittany Rogers, and hosted by Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara!

Tuesday, February 18, 2025
6:00 PM reception
6:30 PM reading and conversation

Free and open to the public

Ajanaé Dawkins is a poet, conceptual artist and theologian. She works through poetry, visual
art, performance, and audio to explore the politics of faith, grief, and intimate relationships
between Black women. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day,
The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Frontier Poetry, The BreakBeat Poets Black
Girl Magic Anthology and more. Her solo-exhibition, No One Teaches Us How To Be
Daughters, debuted at Urban Arts Space in 2024. Her chapbook, BLOOD-FLEX, won the New
Delta Review’s Chapbook prize and is forthcoming in Spring 2025.

Jamie-Lee Elizabeth is a writer, poet and spoken word artist. Born and raised by Jamaican parents in
Cincinnati, Jamie-Lee always loved reading and writing. She graduated from The Ohio State University
with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has a wealth of experience and leadership in youth
development and community engagement in nonprofit organizations.

Jamie-Lee has performed her own original poetry at many locations such as the Cincinnati Art Museum
and Nostalgia Wine & Jazz Lounge. In 2023, she was the Vibrancy Fellow at Kennedy Heights Arts
Center and the Artist in Residence at the Contemporary Arts Center hosting writing workshops exploring
various themes. In spring of 2024, she became a co-founder of the Maroon Collective Artist Wellness
House in Walnut Hills providing co-living & co-working for black artists who in turn provide wellness
programming to surrounding Black communities. She continues to focus on expanding her skills and
encouraging vulnerability through pen and paper.

Brittany Rogers is a poet, visual artist, educator, and life-long Detroiter. She has work published
or forthcoming in Lit Hub, The Hopkins Review, Scalawag, The Poet Lore, Indiana Review,
Four Way Review, Underbelly, Mississippi Review, Lambda Literary, and Oprah Daily. Brittany
is a fellow of VONA, The Watering Hole, Poetry Incubator, and Pink Door Writing Retreat.
Brittany is Editor-in-Chief of Muzzle Magazine and co-host of VS Podcast. She is the author of
the poetry collection Good Dress, a Michigan Notable Book for 2025, and finalist for the
NAACP Image Award. (Tin House, 2024).

Moderator: Yalie Saweda Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-American writer, educator, and researcher from Oakland, California. Kamara is the current Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate (2-year term) and a 2023 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. She is the author of the debut full-length collection Besaydoo (Milkweed Editions, 2024), winner of the 2022-2023 Jake Adam York Prize. Kamara earned a PhD in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Cincinnati. She is an assistant professor of English at Xavier University and resides in Cincinnati. For more, please visit: www.yaylala.com