Patricia Smith is the author of six critically acclaimed volumes of poetry.  In her latest collection, Incendiary Art (Northwestern University Press), Smith confronts the tyranny against the black male body and the tenacious grief of mothers, envisioning, re-envisioning, and ultimately reinventing the role of witness with an incendiary fusion of forms—from prose poems to sestinas and sonnets.

In her Word Works talk, "The Anatomy of a New Book," Smith will focus on her process completing Incendiary Art and other recent collections, walking us through the conception, trajectory, and difficulties of crafting a cohesive manuscript.

$5 Student | $12 General