Reading and Conversation with Poet Jamaal May

Jamaal May’s collections of poems include Hum (2013) and The Big Book of Exit Strategies (2016). Described by the Los Angeles Review of Books as a “bittersweet love song to Detroit,” Hum received a Lannan Foundation Grant and American Library Association’s Notable Book Award, and was named a finalist for the Tufts Discovery Award and an NAACP Image Award. May’s other honors include a Spirit of Detroit Award, the Wood Prize from Poetry, an Indiana Review Prize and fellowships from the Stadler Center, The Kenyon Review and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy.

May is co-director of OW! Arts. He has been a poetry teacher in the Detroit public school system, a faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a graphic designer, and a filmmaker for the Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook and Video Series. He is a three-time Rustbelt Regional Slam champion and has been a finalist at several national and international poetry slams.

Admission is free.