USING THE PERSONAL TO INVESTIGATE, COMPLICATE & REVEAL THE SOCIAL/POLITICAL

Facilitated by: Jeanann Verlee

This is a generative writing workshop, open to all skill levels. $5 Donation

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Jeanann Verlee is the author of three books: prey (finalist for the Benjamin Saltman Award), Said the Manic to the Muse, and Racing Hummingbirds (silver medal winner in the Independent Publisher Awards). She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, the Third Coast Poetry Prize, and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize. Her poems and essays are featured in a number of journals, including Academy of American Poets, Adroit, BuzzFeed, Muzzle, and THRUSH. She served as poetry editor for Winter Tangerine Review and Union Station, among others, and has edited several award-winning books. She collects tattoos, kisses Rottweilers, and believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.

THE STOOP PROJECT: SUMMER SERIES 2025
Hosted by A Gathering of the Tribes, The Stoop Project: Summer Series 2025 features a curated selection of generative writing workshops by bearded poet Thomas Fucaloro. Sessions are open to all skill levels and will be held in person every third Monday from June through August 2025 at The Center’s bookstore, Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, in NYC. Each workshop will be led by a different facilitator and focus on a unique theme. A $5 donation reserves your spot — see calendar for all event listings.

In tandem with the workshops, each month Tribes will select a featured book from The Center’s Bookstore, Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.

THE HISTORY OF THE STOOP
The Stoop Poetry Workshop (1991–1995) was established and facilitated by Tribes’ founder Steve Cannon with fellow Lower East Side poet Bob Holman. Conceived on the stoop of Cannon’s East 3rd Street residence, the workshop served as a creative incubator held before the Nuyorican Poets Café’s Friday Night Slams — allowing poets to refine their work and perform it the same evening. An extraordinary roster of poets participated in the Workshop, including reg e. gaines, Edwin Torres, Tracie Morris, Dana Bryant, Mia Hansford, Keith Roach, Paul Beatty, Willie Perdomo, Dael Orlandersmith, Ed Morales, Ra, and Mike Tyler.

Building on Cannon’s ethos of “Each one, teach one,” The Stoop Project expands the original vision of the Workshop by inviting a wide array of guest facilitators to carry forward its spirit of collective growth, experimentation, and intergenerational exchange.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
The winner of numerous grants from the Staten Island Council of the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, and NYC Commission of Human Rights, to name a few. Thomas Fucaloro has been on six national slam teams. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI Press. He is an adjunct professor at Wagner College, BMCC, and CSI, where he teaches various poetry and literature courses. Thomas is the cofounder of Poetry in the Park, WORDPLAY, Creating Space, Poetry in Motion, and Creativity Meets Geek.  Thomas has released 2 full-length albums: It Starts From the Belly and Blooms, and Inheriting Craziness is a Soft Halo of Light by Three Rooms Press. He also has 4 chapbooks: Mistakes Disguised as Stars (Tired Hearts Press), Depression Cupcakes (Yes, Poetry), There is Always Tomorrow (Mad Gleam Press), and The Only Gardening I Do is When I Give Up by Finishing Line Press. His new chapbook LE(t)GO is out by Neuronautic Press. 

A GATHERING OF OUR PRIDE 2025 is part of a larger festival, FIND YOUR STORY…WRITING WITH PIRDE which takes place from 10.00 AM - 5.30 PM at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington DC and includes a full day of readings, workshops, and panels from DC's LGBTQ literary community.

FIND YOUR STORY will be a day of workshops, presentations, and author talks focused on DC’s writing community. For World Pride 2025, the event will have a special focus on LGBTQ writers in the DC area. The day will include panel discussions, informal writing workshops, and a dedicated poetry stage.

In addition to the marathon reading hosted by Tribes, here are two other notable events:

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - RAINBOW ARCHIPELIGOS OF QUEER RESISTANCE DURING THESE COLONIZING TIMES: A QUEER FILIPINO PANEL AND WORKSHOP
https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13581012

DC's Liwanag DC Filipino Book Festival organizers and Queer Poets perform poems of the ever evolving struggle to come out as queer, bisexual, non-binary and how their lives are impacted during the current administration. First Floor Stage

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - A GATHERING OF OUR PRIDE - A MARATHON POETRY READING
https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13581949

Regie Cabico, the Fairy Godmother of Spoken Word, and Kim Roberts, the premier literary historian of DC, curate and host fourteen LGBTQ+ poets from the greater DC region as they share poetry of love and resilience. Join us in the afternoon for a book fair featuring small local presses and an open mic. Fifth Floor Poetry Stage

1:00 PM - 4:00 PM - OPEN MIC AND LOCAL PRESS FAIR
https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13742336

Celebrate the community of independent presses and publishers in the DC area amplifying the voices of LGBTQ writers with a press fair and open mic featuring their work. Fifth Floor Poetry Stage

All events are free and open to the public.
Please check individual event listings for age levels.

Please join us on Saturday, October 5th, 2024 @ 5pm sharp for the inaugural installment of Segue Reading Series Fall 2024, featuring performances by acclaimed poets Joan Larkin and Malcom Tariq.

The Segue Reading Series Fall 2024 is produced by the Segue Foundation and curated by the talented Regie Cabico and Drew Pisarra of A Gathering of the Tribes. This vibrant series will unfold over eight consecutive Saturdays from October 5th to November 23rd. Experience an eclectic mix of voices and styles as we celebrate the power of literature and storytelling. Don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the literary arts!

Tickets are $5 in-person and virtual (all proceeds go to the readers).

Location: Artists Space, 11 Cortlandt Alley, New York, NY, 10013
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89395947519

THE POETS
Joan Larkin’s newest book, "Old Stranger," is her sixth collection of poems. Previous titles include "My Body: New and Selected Poems," winner of the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde award. A lifelong teacher and poet, she has recently begun publishing short fiction.

Malcolm Tariq is a poet and playwright from Savannah. He is the author of "Heed the Hollow," winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry. He lives in Brooklyn and is the senior editorial manager for PEN America's Prison and Justice Writing Program.

THE CURATORS
Regie Cabico, a spoken word pioneer and current Executive Director of A Gathering of the Tribes, won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam. His TV credits include HBO’s "Def Poetry Jam," TEDx and NPR’s "Snap Judgment." His first full-length poetry collection "A Rabbit in Search of a Rolex" was released by Day Eight in 2023.

Drew Pisarra is the author of two short story collections, "You’re Pretty Gay" (2021) and "Publick Spanking" (1996), two sonnet collections, "Infinity Standing Up" (2019) and "Periodic Boyfriends" (2023); and two radio plays, "The Strange Case of Nick M." (2021) and "Price in Purgatory" (2023).

SEGUE FOUNDATION
The Segue Foundation is an internationally-renowned arts organization based in New York City with a history of commitment to innovative literature, film, and dance. Segue sponsors the experimental Segue Reading Series, a legendary series that has run continuously in New York City for over 40 years.

A Gathering of the Tribes continued programming made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature

Please join us at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC as we celebrate the eve of James Baldwin’s 100th Birthday with poets and readings by writers who have performed for us in Gathering Fire, a co-curated event between Capturing Fire and AGathering of the Tribes.

RSVP here: https://npg.si.edu/event/james-baldwin’s-100th-birthday-slam

Blank Forms is thrilled to announce their republication of Steve Cannon's long out-of-print, underground classic “Groove, Bang and Jive Around” in a stunning new paperback.

Order your copy here, only $15!
https://www.blankforms.org/publications/steve-cannon-groove-bang-and-jive-around

Please join A Gathering of the Tribes for an evening of readings and performances celebrating this notorious novel at the upcoming book launch!!

Free and open to the public! RSVP via the link: https://withfriends.co/event/20327441/cloud_nine_a_launch_party_for_groove_bang_and_jive_around

Please join us for a very Special Edition of Tribes Spotlight Series, featuring our amazing editors who will be sharing their work, hosted by Chavisa Woods.

This is event is FREE and open to the public.

To attend, simply open this Zoom link at 7pm EST on Thursday, September 2nd! :

You can also dial in and listen by phone: 1-646-558-8656

FEATURED GUESTS

Tribes’ Associate Poetry Editor Sheila Maldonado is the author of the poetry collections one-bedroom Solo (A Gathering of the Tribes / Fly by Night Press, 2011) and that's what you get (Brooklyn Arts Press, forthcoming, 2020). Her poems have appeared in Gulf Coast, Ping Pong, and Callaloo, and anthologized in Bettering American Poetry Vol. 3, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Brooklyn Poets Anthology and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. She is a CantoMundo Fellow and a Creative Capital awardee as part of desveladas, a visual writing collective. She has served as an artist-in-residence on Governors Island, New York for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a Cultural Envoy to Honduras for the U.S. State Department. She teaches English for The City University of New York and has led residencies as a teaching artist for the National Book Foundation and Teachers & Writers Collaborative. She has degrees in English from Brown University and creative writing / poetry from The City College of New York. She was born in Brooklyn and raised in Coney Island. Her family hails from Honduras. She lives in uptown Manhattan where she is working on an ongoing project about a lifelong obsession with the ancient Maya.

Tribes’ Associate Poetry Editor Danny Shot was the longtime publisher and editor of Long Shot arts and literary magazine, which he founded along with Eliot Katz in 1982 in New Brunswick, NJ. Born in the Bronx and raised in Dumont, NJ by German Jewish refugees, Danny graduated Rutgers College in 1980 with a B.A. in English. Shot’s poetry has appeared in: bum rush the page (Def Poetry Jam) Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Henry Holt), and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder’s Mouth) among other anthologies and numerous journals. Shot has read his poetry throughout the United States. He was featured on the television show State of the Arts, NJ in July 2018. His play Roll the Dice, co-written with Lawrence Kelly was performed at the NYC Theater Summerfest in September 2018. Danny is currently Head Poetry Editor of Red Fez, an online magazine (www.redfez.net). He spent over 30 years as a NYC public high school teacher, serving in the South Bronx, Harlem and Brooklyn. Mr. Shot lives in Hoboken, NJ (home of Frank Sinatra and baseball) where he was the most recent poet-in-residence of the Hoboken Museum. WORKS (New and Selected Poems) was published in March 2018 (CavanKerry Press).

Tribes’ Head Poetry Editor ​​Quincy Troupe is the author of 20 books, including 10 volumes of poetry and three children’s books. His awards include the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement, the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award, The 2005 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award presented by Poets & Writers, three American Book Awards, the 2014 Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award and a 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from Furious Flowers. His writings have been translated into over 30 languages and, in 2002 he was named the first official Poet Laureate of the State of California. Troupe’s latest books of poems are; Seduction; a book length poem titled, Ghost Voices, published in 2018; Errancities (2012) and Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (2002). Mr. Troupe is co-author with Miles Davis of Miles: the Autobiography; Earl the Pearl with Earl Monroe; and the author of Miles and me, a memoir of his friendship with Miles Davis, published in 2018 by Seven Stories Press. Forthcoming are a large book of poems, Duende, Poems, 1966 – Now, scheduled for publication in March 2021 and a memoir, The Accordion Years, scheduled to be published in Fall 2021, also by Seven Stories Press. Troupe is Professor Emeritus from the University of California, San Diego, edits Black Renaissance Noire at New York University and lives in Harlem, New York with his wife, Margaret.

Please join us for Tribes Spotlight Series, featuring four amazing authors sharing their work, hosted by Chavisa Woods.

This is event is FREE and open to the public.

To attend, simply open this Zoom link at 7pm EST on Thursday, September 2nd! :

You can also dial in and listen by phone: 1-646-558-8656

FEATURED GUESTS

Ishmael Reed is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, public media commentator, lecturer and publisher. Author of more than thirty books, Dalkey Archive Press published his eleventh novel, Conjugating Hindi, in 2018. In 2020, his latest non-fiction work, Malcolm and Me, was published by Audible, with Reed as narrator. Baraka Books of Montreal published his latest essay collection, Why No Confederate Statues in Mexico, in 2019. Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues, his most recent poetry collection, is forthcoming in 2020 by Dalkey Archive Press. Other recent books include his tenth novel, Juice! (2011); and The Complete Muhammad Ali (Baraka Books, 2015). New York’s Nuyorican Poets Café premiered his ninth and newest play, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, May 23, 2019, which garnered three 2019 AUDELCO awards; the Nuyorican produced his eighth play, Life Among the Aryans in 2018. Reed is founder of the Before Columbus Foundation and PEN Oakland, non-profit organizations run by writers for writers. He is a MacArthur Fellow, and among his other honors are the University of Buffalo’s 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations, and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award. Awarded the 2008 Blues Songwriter of the Year from the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame, his collaborations with jazz musicians for the past forty years were also recognized by SFJazz Center with his appointment, from 2012-2016, as San Francisco’s first Jazz Poet Laureate and in Venice, Italy, where he became the first Alberto Dubito International awardee, honored as “a special artistic individual who has distinguished himself through the most innovative creativity in the musical and linguistic languages.” Reed is currently working on The Terrible Fours, the third novel in his “Terribles” trilogy. His online international literary magazine, Konch, can be found at www.ishmaelreedpub.com. His author website is located at www.ishmaelreedpub.org.

Nancy Mercado was named one of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass on the bicentennial of his birth by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. She is the recipient of the 2017 American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement presented by the Before Columbus Foundation. In December 2020, Mercado edited a special memorial section for Tribes honoring Miguel Algarin, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. She is the editor of the first Nuyorican women writers anthology published in Voices e/Magazine from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College- CUNY, and serves as a guest curator for the Museum of American Poetics. Featured on National Public Radio’s All of It, The Talk of the Nation, and the PBS NewsHour Special; America Remembers 9/11, she is the author of It Concerns the Madness (2000), a poetry collection, Las Tres Hermanas (2017), a children’s coloring book, and the editor of if the world were mine (2009), a young adult anthology. Currently, Mercado is editing another special memorial section for Boog City honoring Miguel Algarin. For more information visit: https://www.nancy-mercado.com

reg e gaines is a poet, playwright, director, lecturer and Artistic Director of the Downtown Urban Arts Festival in New York City since 2007. He is a two time Tony Award nominated playwright, Grammy nominated lyricist, ( Bring in da Noise/ Bring in da Funk) and author of four books of poetry including, Abstract Sax and The Original Buckwheat. A former Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champ, reg appears in numerous poetry anthologies including, Bum Rush The Page, Paterson Literary Review, Aloud: Voices From The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and A Year in Ink. He has composed the score for the PBS documentary, Senior Year and has released four poetry albums. reg has appeared on seasons 3-4 of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam as well as the Arsenio Hall Show, the John Stewart Show, MTV Spoken Word Unplugged and MSNBC’s Edgewise. He has performed at Woodstock ‘94, Central Park SummerStage, The Berlin Jazz Festival, Carre Opera House in Amsterdam, Aaron Davis Hall, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and NYU’s Gallatin Center. reg is currently writing and directing The 88, a musical with music composed by Calvin Gaines.

Zarrin Ferdowsi was born in Iran and finished high-school right around the aftermath of Islamic revolution of Iran. Growing up in the family with love of literature, read any books she could get her hands on due to difficulty to attend college in her birth country she Immigrated to united states in 1986 and worked her way through many years till finally finished her bachelor's degree in molecular cell biology at the University of California in Berkeley. Followed with a professional degree in dentistry from the University of Washington in Seattle. She is married with one son and she lives and practices in East Bay San Francisco for twenty years.

Please join us for Tribes Spotlight Series, featuring four amazing authors sharing their work, hosted by Chavisa Woods.

This is event is FREE and open to the public.

More Info Coming Soon! Save the Date.

To attend, simply open this Zoom link at 7pm EST on Thursday, September 2nd! :

You can also dial in and listen by phone: 1-646-558-8656

FEATURED GUESTS

Daphne Gottlieb stitches together the ivory tower and the gutter just using her tongue. She is the author of 10 other books including the short stories Pretty Much Dead. Other works include Dear Dawn, letters from Death Row by the “first female serial killer”, Aileen Wuornos. She lives in San Francisco, where tries to help the casualties of the city’s class war.

Bakar Wilson has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and the Colgate Writers’ Conference. He has performed his work at the Bowery Poetry Club, Poetry Project, The Studio Museum of Harlem, The Asian-American Writer's Workshop, and the Langston Hughes House, among others. His poetry has appeared in The Vanderbilt Review, The Lumberyard Radio Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Queer Anthology, The Ostrich Review, and thekenyonreview.org, among others. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Bakar received his B.A. in English from Vanderbilt University and his M.A. in Creative Writing from The City College of New York. He is an Adjunct Lecturer of English and Creative Writing at Borough of Manhattan Community College at CUNY.

Barbara Purcell is an arts and culture writer based in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in Texas Monthly, the Brooklyn Rail, the Austin Chronicle, Canadian Art, and Glasstire, among others. Her fiction has appeared in Tribes Magazine, Door is a Jar, and Schuylkill Valley Journal. She is the author of Black Ice: Poems (Fly by Night Press, 2006) and has contributed to three anthologies: Heide Hatry: Heads and Tales, Yoga—Philosophy for Everyone: Bending Mind and Body, and Word: An Anthology by a Gathering of the Tribes. She is a graduate of Skidmore College.

Peggy Robles-Alvarado is a Dominican and Puerto Rican Pushcart Prize nominee, 2020 Atticus Review Poetry Contest winner, and a BRIO award winner with fellowships from CantoMundo, Desert Nights Rising Stars, The Frost Place, and VONA. With degrees in education and an MFA in Performance Studies this former teen mother, and initiated priestess in Lukumi and Palo celebrates womanhood and honors cultural rituals. She’s a three-time International Latino Book Award winner who authored Conversations With My Skin (2011), and Homage To The Warrior Women (2012). Through Robleswrites Productions, shecreated The Abuela Stories Project (2016) and Mujeres, The Magic, The Movement, and The Muse (2017). Her work has been featured on HBO Habla Women, Lincoln Center, and her poetry appears in several anthologies including The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext (2020), and What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (2019).

Please join us for Tribes Spotlight Series, featuring four amazing authors sharing their work, hosted by Chavisa Woods.

This is event is FREE and open to the public.

More Info Coming Soon! Save the Date.

To attend, simply open this Zoom link at 7pm EST on Thursday, March 11th:

You can also dial in and listen by phone: 1-646-558-8656

FEATURED GUESTS

Eva H.D. is the author of Rotten Perfect Mouth, which includes the pieces "38 Michigans," & "Bonedog" (featured in the Netflix film, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). She works in your favourite bar.

Wanda Phipps is a writer/translator/editor living in NYC. Her books include Field of Wanting: Poems of Desire and Wake-Up Calls: 66 Morning Poems. Her poetry has been translated into Ukrainian, Hungarian, Arabic, Galician and Bangla. She's received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Theater Translation Fund, and others. As a founding member of Yara Arts Group she has collaborated on numerous theatrical productions presented in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Siberia, and at La MaMa, E.T.C. in NYC. She’s curated reading series at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church and written about the arts for Time Out New York, and Paper Magazine. Her new book Mind Honey is forthcoming from Autonomedia.. Her books are available here:

CAConrad has been working with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual since 1975. They are the author of Amanda Paradise (Wave Books, 2021). Other titles include The Book of Frank, While Standing in Line for Death, and Ecodeviance. They received a Creative Capital grant, a Pew Fellowship, a Lambda Literary Award, and a Believer Magazine Book Award. They teach at Columbia University in New York City and Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam.

Gbenga Adesina, winner of the 2020 Narrative Prize, is a Nigerian writer and the author of the chapbook Painter of Water, a meditation on intimacy in the face of historical violence, published in the New Generation African Poets series by the University of Nebraska and Akashic Books. He has received fellowships and scholarships from The Fine Arts Work Center, Poets House New York, New York University (where he received his MFA), and Colgate University. His work has been published in the New York Times, Prairie Schooner, Washington Square Review, and elsewhere

Please join us for Tribes Spotlight Series, featuring four amazing authors sharing their work, hosted by Chavisa Woods.

This is event is FREE and open to the public.

More Info Coming Soon! Save the Date.

To attend, simply open this Zoom link at 7pm EST on Thursday, March 11th:

You can also dial in and listen by phone: 1-646-558-8656

FEATURED GUESTS

Patricia Spears Jones is a poet, writer, editor, literary curator and activist. She is author of A LUCENT FIRE and 9 other poetry collections and two plays commissioned by Mabou Mines. She is the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize recipient. She is an emeritus fellow for Black Earth institute and organizer of American Poets Congress.

Yuko Otomo is a visual artist & a bilingual poet/writer of Japanese origin. She writes poetry; haiku; art criticism; travelogues & essays. Her publications include Garden: Selected Haiku(Beehive Press), Genesis (Sisyphus Press), Small Poems (Ugly Duckling Presse), The Hand of The Poet (UDP), STUDY & Other Poems on Art (UDP), Elements (Feral Press), KOAN (New Feral Press) & FROZEN HEATWAVE: a poetry collaboration project with Steve Dalachinksy(Luna Bisonte Prods). She lives in New York City.

Lydia Cortés is the author of the poetry collections Lust for Lust and Whose Place. Her work has also been published in various anthologies such as Puerto Rican Poetry From Aboriginal Times to the Present, Resist Much, Obey Little and online forums as What Rough Beast (Indolent Books) and Upstreet Journal. In November 2O19, together with Julio Marzan and other poets, she was invited by Pen Puerto Rico to participate as a panelist in a Dialogue on Boricua Poets in New York. She is a MacDowell fellow and also was awarded at VCCA and Valparaiso in Andalusia Spain.

reg e gaines is a two time Tony Award nominated playwright and Grammy Award nominated lyricist. He has published four books of poetry, is editor of the 2015 poetry anthology, A Year In Ink, scored the PBS documentary, Senior Year and has served as artistic director of the NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival since 2007. Recent projects include, director of Connect The Lots, a musical theater summer camp in Camden, New Jersey in 2014, director/ creative writing workshop facilitator of Through The Looking Glass, Center Theater Group, Los Angeles California, 2014-2016, director of Lyricist Fellowship Lab, Teaching Firm of America Charter School, Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, winter/spring 2017, Is Poetry Theater? workshop facilitator, Bowery Poetry Club, NYC 2018 and writer, director, producer, The 88, a new musical with music by Calvin Gaines, 2020.