Performance Poetry & Conversation with Adam Falkner

Join us for a night of poetry with Dr. Adam Falkner. Falkner offers a sharp new portrait of the journey into queerhood and masculinity in America in his first full-length collection of poetry, The Willies. We welcome you to participate in a group conversation with Adam after his performance.

Dr. Adam Falkner is an author, educator, and equity & inclusion strategist. He is the author of several collections of poetry, and his work has been featured in a wide range of print and media including on programming for HBO, NBC, NPR, in The New York Times, and at President Obama’s Grassroots Ball at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. Adam is a founding partner of the pioneering diversity consulting group, The Dialogue Arts Project, and has over a decade of cross-industry experience developing diversity strategies, curricula, and cultural programming for corporate and academic partners. He is a former high school English teacher in NYC public schools and holds a Ph.D. in English and Education from Columbia University.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Drifting seamlessly between the scholarly and conversational, Falkner’s poems showcase a versatility of language and a courageous hunger, unafraid of depicting the costumes we use to hide legacies of toxic masculinity. Through snapshots, both tragic and humorous, merciless and humane, Falkner offers powerful new ways of understanding the intersectional linkage that binds queer shame to cultural appropriation. At its core, The Willies asks us to consider who we will become if we do not grapple with what scares us most.

Place a hold on The Willies in the library catalog. Falkner’s collection of poetry is also available to purchase at Barrington Books. Questions? Email Amy Rosa arosa@provcomlib.org, or Lee Smith lsmith@provcomlib.org.  We thank the Friends of Mount Pleasant Library for supporting the event and Mollie Goldblum for its inception.