On Friday, May 17th at 6 p.m., join our friends at the Folger Shakespeare Library for a free reading featuring Adam Mansbach and poets Joseph Ross and Clint Smith. This event brings together prose and poetry that explores themes of graffiti—including poems on D.C.’s Cool Disco Dan—and father and son relationships. The event is free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended and can be made online at www.folger.edu/poetry. A book signing will follow next door to the Folger Shakespeare Library, in the Haskell Center, at 301 East Capitol Street, SE.
Adam Mansbach’s Go the F**k to Sleep has been translated into 40 languages and is forthcoming as a feature film from Fox 2000. His other novels include the California Book Award-winning The End of the Jews and the cult classic Angry Black White Boy, which has been taught at more than eighty schools. He is the recipient of a Reed Award, a Webby Award, and a Gold Pollie Award from the American Association of Political Consultants for his 2012 campaign video “Wake The F**k Up,” starring Samuel L. Jackson. He is currently adapting the children’s classic The Pushcart War for Park Pictures, and his debut thriller, The Dead Run, will be published by HarperCollins in September.
Joseph Ross is the author of Meeting Bone Man and the forthcoming Gospel of Dust. His poems appear in many anthologies and literary journals including Poet Lore, Tidal Basin Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and Drumvoices Revue. He has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and is the winner of the 2012 Pratt Library / Little Patuxent Review Poetry Prize.
Clint Smith is a poet, educator and the 2012 Graffiti DC Grand Slam Champion. He is also a member of the 2012 Beltway Poetry Team, representing DC at the National Poetry Slam. He has been featured on TVOne’s premier poetry and music show, Verses & Flow, and has served as a cultural ambassador to Swaziland on behalf of the U.S. State Department, conducting poetry workshops with youth throughout the country focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, cross-cultural understanding, and self-empowerment.