kristina robinson

ROOM 220’s Picks for the Best Panels and Other Events at the 2015 Tennessee Williams Festival (March 25 – 29)

The 2015 Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival is upon us, and as it has for the past several years offers a smorgasbord of enticing literary events. Here are Room 220’s picks for the things you don’t want to miss. (The festival runs Wednesday, March 25, through Sunday, March 29. See the full program here.) … ROOM 220’s Picks for the Best Panels and Other Events at the 2015 Tennessee Williams Festival (March 25 – 29)

The N.O. Loving Festival presents: NATIVE. HOMELAND. EXILE.

Five New Orleans writers will explore the theme native, homeland, exile through readings and a Q&A from 6 – 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, at the Press Street HQ (3718 St. Claude Ave.). They will provide attendees a concert of voices from women writers of color that unflinchingly captures the coming of age in … The N.O. Loving Festival presents: NATIVE. HOMELAND. EXILE.

New Orleans Loving Festival – NATIVE. HOMELAND. EXILE.

NATIVE. HOMELAND. EXILE. Five New Orleans Women of Color Writers Capture The Coming Of Age In America’s New South. “A thousand camera flashes light the way as Black Indians dance even to the grave.” – J. Hilt “Sometimes the only way to rid yourself of an abomination is to bury it.” – A. Citchens “Teeming … New Orleans Loving Festival – NATIVE. HOMELAND. EXILE.

Ambiguous hues: (1)ne Drop by Yaba Blay

The New York Times highlighted yesterday a new book by New Orleans native Yaba Blay, (1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race. The book features essays exploring questions of race by 60 contributors from 25 countries who self-identify, at least partly, as black, even if they are not always seen as such because of light … Ambiguous hues: (1)ne Drop by Yaba Blay

Room 220 and the Loving Festival Present BLACK RABBITS AND WHITE INDIANS: RACIALLY CONTROVERSIAL CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Please join Room 220 for a special event as part of the New Orleans Loving Festival—Black Rabbits and White Indians: Racially Controversial Children’s Books—at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, at the Press Street HQ (3718 St. Claude Ave.). NOTE: Unlike most Room 220 events, this one will start (sort of) on time. It will be immediately followed … Room 220 and the Loving Festival Present BLACK RABBITS AND WHITE INDIANS: RACIALLY CONTROVERSIAL CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Contributor Hype: Kristina Robinson in THE BAFFLER

Pick up the new issue of The Baffler—the quasi-legendary journal of contrarian politics and art co-founded in 1988 by Thomas Frank—to check out a new poem by Room 220 friend and contributor Kristina Robinson. “Diaspora: Breakfast with Mahmoud Darwish,” which Robinson read last summer at a MelaNated Writer’s Literary Jook Joint that featured Baffler poetry … Contributor Hype: Kristina Robinson in THE BAFFLER

Beware the Drum Major Instinct: Cornel West and Tavis Smiley at Dillard on MLK Day

By Kristina Robinson I’m an eighties baby. The Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday was signed into law by Ronald Reagan the year I was born. I’m also from New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the largest entry points in the nation for enslaved Africans, the private prison and incarceration capital of the world, and home to … Beware the Drum Major Instinct: Cornel West and Tavis Smiley at Dillard on MLK Day

Of Folk and Form: An interview with Thomas Sayers Ellis

By jewel bush When friend and fellow MelaNated Writers Collective member Kelly Harris suggested we bring poet, photographer, and word provocateur Thomas Sayers Ellis—cofounder of the Dark Room Collective—to New Orleans, I said: “Fuck yeah!” I jumped at the chance to hear TSE, the co-founder of the Dark Room Collective, read his work live: … … Of Folk and Form: An interview with Thomas Sayers Ellis

Splitting Racial Atoms: Mythology and Identity in T. Geronimo Johnson’s HOLD IT ‘TIL IT HURTS

T. Geronimo Johnson will read along with Khaled al-Berry and Lucy Fricke at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, at Melvin’s (2112 St. Claude Ave.) as part of the Room 220 LIVE PROSE reading series. Details here. By Kristina Robinson Hated it. Remember that phrase from “In Living Color,” the sketch comedy series of the … Splitting Racial Atoms: Mythology and Identity in T. Geronimo Johnson’s HOLD IT ‘TIL IT HURTS

TONIGHT: MelaNated Juju at the Juju Bag Cafe

Tonight–Thursday, Aug. 2–at 7 p.m., the fantastic MelaNated Writers collective will present their third and final installment of their summer reading series at the Juju Bag Cafe (5363 Franklin Ave.). Following wildly successful events in June at NOMA and July at Cafe Treme, tonight’s event is sure to be a satisfying finale to one of … TONIGHT: MelaNated Juju at the Juju Bag Cafe