Live in the Alphabet City Tent: Poet Patricia Smith

On June 19, Cave Canem, in partnership with City of Asylum Pittsburgh, presented a free reading in the Alphabet City Tent where Patricia Smith read, along with Tim Seibles and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.

Patricia Smith has published six collections of poetry, most recently, Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House Press), an exploration of the second wave of the Great Migration, described by Sapphire as “a stunning and transcendent work of art.” Her Blood Dazzler was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, and Teahouse of the Almighty was a National Poetry Series selection and recipient of the first Hurston/Wright Award in Poetry. Additional honors include a 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for poetry, a Pushcart Prize, the Carl Sandburg Award and induction into the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent. Ms. Smith is a four-time National Poetry Slam individual champion, has been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, and has written and performed three one-woman plays, one of which was produced by Derek Walcott’s Trinidad Theater Workshop. She is a professor at the City University of New York/College of Staten Island and teaches in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.