Celebrated African-American Poet to Read Works for Black Poetry Day

SUNY Plattsburgh will host African-American poet, Mahtem Shiferraw, who will read from her works in commemoration of Black Poetry Day.

Black Poetry Day is the annual celebration of African-American poetry in honor of Jupiter Hammon, former enslaved New Yorker, who was the first published African-American poet in the United States. The day recognizes his achievements by inviting poets to campus to share their works in honor of Hammon’s Oct. 17, 1711, birthday.

Shiferraw is the author of several poetry collections, including “Nomenclatures of Invisibility,” “Fuchsia,” and “Your Body is War.” A native of Ethiopia and Eritrea, her work has been published in numerous literary magazines, and her short story, “The River,” received an honorable mention from Glimmer Train’s open fiction contest. She is also the author of the chapter book collection, “Behind Walls and Glass.”

She has served as an editor, curator and adviser for different literary journals and is the founder and executive director of Anaphora Arts, a nonprofit organization that advocates for writer and artists of color. She has served as a jury member for different literary prizes and artist residencies, and is a Pushcart prize nominee.

Shiferraw holds an MFA from Vermont College.

This year’s Black Poetry Day celebration will be held Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall. The event is open and free to the public.

For more information, contact Dr. Tracie Church Guzzio, director of the Honors Program and professor of English, at 518-564-3075 or email [email protected].

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs; Photo Provided