VOICES Spring Schedule 2025
Thursday, January 30: Poet Henry Mills (7:30, Daugherty Palmer Commons)
In collaboration with ILC; introduced by Professor José Ballesteros
Henry Mills is a poet, performer, and musician born in Washington, D.C., to a Salvadoran mother and a Jewish-American father. His multi-disciplinary performances include Helicopters and Vultures, which delves into his family history against the backdrop of the Salvadoran Civil War, and Underwater Poems, an existential meditation in the wake of a friend’s suicide. He has performed at festivals such as Positive Youth Fest, Split This Rock, and the Festival de Invierno in Perquín, El Salvador. A career highlight was opening for the revolutionary Latin American folk group Los Guaraguao.Henry’s poetry, often exploring themes of resilience, displacement, and the intersections of personal and collective history, has been published in The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, Origins Journal, and Epiphany Magazine.In 2016, he earned an MFA in poetry from New York University.
Thursday, February 13: Nonfiction writer Tina Vasquez
Introduced by Professor Jennifer Cognard-Black
Tina Vasquez is a movement journalist with more than 15 years of experience reporting on immigration, reproductive injustice, food, labor, and Latino culture. Currently, she is the features editor at the nonprofit newsroom Prism and she serves on the board of Press On, a Southern journalism collective that strengthens and expands the practice of journalism in service of liberation. Born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles, Tina currently calls North Carolina home.
Thursday, April 3: Nonfiction Writer Deanna Kreisel (7:30 PM, Daugherty Palmer Commons)
In collaboration with Environmental Studies; introduced by Professor Parisa Rinaldi
Deanna Kreisel is Associate Professor of English and Co-Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of Economic Woman: Demand, Gender, and Narrative Closure in Eliot and Hardy, as well as numerous articles on ecocriticism, environmental history, gender studies, and Victorian literature and culture. Her creative nonfiction and essays focus on environmental themes and utopianism. She is currently completing a hybrid memoir entitled The Splendour of the Grass, a group of interlinked essays exploring the relationship between lawns, masculinity, sport, ecological stewardship, and community building.
Thursday, April 17: Poet Kyle Dargan (7:30, Daugherty Palmer Commons)
Introduced by Professor Jeff Coleman
Kyle Dargan is the author of six collections of poetry, which have been awarded the Cave Canem Prize, the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, the Lenore Marshall Prize, and longlisted for the Pulitzer Prize. He has partnered with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities to produce poetry programming at the White House and support the development of the National Student Poets Program. He is head of the books division for Janelle Monae’s creative company, Wondaland, and an Associate Professor of Creative Communications at American University in Washington, D.C. More about his writing and cultural work can be found at www.kyledargan.com
About
The VOICES Reading Series, established by poets Lucille Clifton and Michael Glaser over 30 years ago, features poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers and is intended to bring accomplished writers to the campus to interact with students and faculty. Invited writers read their works throughout the semester on Thursday evenings at 8:15 P.M at Daugherty-Palmer Commons, and all readings are free and open to the public. Once or twice a month, authors give a short reading and then respond during a brief question and answer period. Each reading is followed by a reception, where students and faculty can mingle with the author and other interested writers and readers. The author’s book(s) are also sold during the reception and can be signed by the author. Luminaries such as Mark Doty, Elizabeth Alexander, Toni Morrison, and Naomi Shihab Nye have read in the series.
Information on events are posted throughout campus, and emails are sent out near the date of the readings; please contact the director, Karen Leona Anderson (klanderson@smcm.edu) if you would like to be added to these notifications. In addition, all the events and information on the authors can be found at our Facebook page: Creative Writing Resources at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
