Sundress Academy for the Arts Presents April Reading Series

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is pleased to announce the guests for the April installment of our virtual reading series. This event will take place on April 27, 2022 from 7-8PM, on Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

Margo Berdeshevsky NYC born, writes in Paris. Her books include: “Before The Drought,”/Glass- Lyre-Press/ finalist-National-Poetry-Series. Forthcoming: “It Is Still Beautiful To Hear The Heart Beat,”/ Salmon-Poetry, + “Kneel Said the Night ( a hybrid book in half-notes,)”/ Sundress- Publications. Author as well of: “Between Soul & Stone” + “But a Passage in Wilderness” /Sheep-Meadow-Press, + “Beautiful Soon Enough,”/ FC2/recipient of 1^st Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Award. Other honors include Robert H. Winner Award from Poetry Society of America. Recently published online in Scoundrel Time, The Night Heron Barks, +Plume. For more info, kindly see her website: http://margoberdeshevsky.com

Ali Black is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. She is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize for her poem “Kinsman.” Her work has appeared in december, jubilat, Literary Hub, The Offing, and elsewhere. Her first book of poetry, If It Heals At All was selected by Jaki Shelton Green for the New Voices series at Jacar Press and it was named a finalist for the 2021 Ohioana Book Award. Her book can be purchased at: https://www.macsbacks.com/if-it-heals-all

Sharon Suzuki-Martinez won the 2021 Washington Prize for her manuscript, The Loneliest Whale Blues, to be published in 2022 by The Word Works. Her first book, The Way of All Flux (New Rivers Press, 2012) won the MVP Prize. She has a micro-chapbook, A Glimpse of Birds over O’odham Land (Rinky Dink Press, 2021). She is a Kundiman fellow, a Pushcart nominee, and a Best of the Net 2018 finalist. She grew up in Hawaii and now lives in Tempe, Arizona, on the traditional homeland of the Akimel O’odham. Find her manuscript, The Loneliest Whale Blues, here: https://wordworksbooks.org/product/the-loneliest-whale-blues/

Our community partner for April is The Knoxville Black Doula Collection. The Knoxville Black Doula Collective’s mission is to enlighten, educate and empower women during their pregnancy, birth and postpartum periods. Their goal is to create a safe space that will provide support to all women with a targeted emphasis on African American women.

To learn more about The Knoxville Black Doula Collection, please visit their page at facebook.com/KnoxvilleBlackDoulaCollective