Acclaimed poet and multidisciplinary artist Julie Ezelle Patton will appear in a special program featuring a reading and conversation moderated by Dr. Adam Banks, followed by the presentation of the Alice Dunbar-Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC).

Patton, whose most recent book The Flower Poem was published by Tender Buttons in 2024, is widely recognized for innovative work spanning poetry, performance, and visual art. Their publications include Notes for Some (Nominally) Awake (2007) and “Car Tune” & Not So Bella Donna (2003). A 2024 special issue of Chicago Review is devoted to Patton’s practice, which merges writing with performance and visual experimentation.

Their work has appeared in About Place Journal and several anthologies, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (1994) and Other Influences: An Untold History of Feminist Avant-garde Poetry (2024). Honors include a Cleveland Arts Prize, a Museum of Fine Arts Houston Core Residency, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and the Doan Brook Association Watershed Hero Award.

Beyond the page, Patton has created large-scale installations such as Womb Room Tomb, featured in the 2018 FRONT Triennial, and is known for spontaneous performances with typewriter and unconventional instruments at venues including the Stone, Arts for Art, and Artists Space.

The event is co-hosted by GLAAWC and co-sponsored by the Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities.

Event Details:

Friday, September 26th
Guilford Parlor
3:15 to 4:15 p.m.

Register Here: https://www.glaawc.us/

Image Credit: Provided as a courtesy of the Cleveland Public Library Special Collections