Frances Klein 

Megan McDermott

Jared Beloff

Matthew E. Henry

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Goin’ Up Yonder: Religion in Black Poetics

For many in the Black American community, religion played a large role in our upbringing. Whether we maintain our beliefs into adulthood, embrace a new faith, or abandon religion altogether, we may reckon with or otherwise allude to how that cultural context informed our lives through poetry. Four writers will read poems that include imagery, diction, and other aspects of religion. Then they will discuss among themselves and with the audience how these influences appear in and drive their work. 

Presenters:  Quintin Collins, Sarah Kersey, Porsha Olayiwola, and Matthew E. Henry

The Night Office: Embracing the Creative Power of Darkness

With lights and ever more lights, we drive the holiness and the beauty of night back to the forests and the sea …      Henry Beston, “Night on a Great Beach” (1928)

 How does darkness influence our art, our prayer, our perspective? Given the explosion of artificial light over the past 150 years, how do we navigate the loss of darkness and what—exactly—are we losing? In this panel, we’ll explore ways to enrich our creative practices through mindful engagement with darkness, literal and metaphorical. We’ll also explore the profound effects artificial light has on the natural world, and our accompanying grief. We hope to converse across theology, ecology, poetry and non-fiction, touching on such topics as winter solstice, via negativa, midnight prayer (‘the night office’), and the importance of the night sky.

Presenters: Hannah Larrabee, Nina MacLaughlin, Carolyn Oliver, and Matthew E. Henry