WATCH: Diane Exavier, Angel Nafis, Shayla Lawz, and Carols Sirah Offer Poetry and Performance

In a longstanding tradition of launching the debuts of exceptional new voices in poetry, Greenlight welcomes writer, theatermaker, educator, and Brooklyn local Diane Exavier to launch her first collection, The Math of Saint Felix. Her book-length lyric is an attempt to do the math of a woman, a family, a country, and a diaspora, plotting how the sum of one life reveals permutations of many— daughters, sisters, lovers—and the uncountable cost of a single death. With the heart-stilling gravity of a weary prophet, Exavier—hailed by Legacy Russell (Glitch Feminism) as “a rising star in the next generation of Black poetics”—performs the work of generations.

Community and collaboration are at the center of this literary event at Greenlight Bookstore, hosted by the incomparable Angel Nafis and featuring Shayla Lawz, author of the new poetry collection, speculation, n., and Carlos Sirah, author of The High Alive: An Epic Hoodoo Diptych. Nafis, Lawz, Sirah, and Exavier hold space not only for each other’s language, but for the characters living between the lines in this evening of offerings in poetry and performance.

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Founded in October 2009 by Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore is an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Combining the best traditions of the neighborhood bookstore with carefully curated, community-minded events, Greenlight has earned a reputation as a literary destination. Greenlight has continued to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse array of virtual events, and has been inspired by the movements for racial justice across the country to engage in the work of becoming a more anti-racist company. Learn more at greenlightbookstore.com or check them out @greenlightbklyn.