An Evening with YesYes Books: Diannely Antigua, Brandon Courtney, Matt Hart & KMA Sullivan
Authors and editors of Portland’s YesYes Books come together for an evening of literary provocations celebrating the press’s eight-year history.
YesYes Books poets Diannely Antigua, Brandon Courtney, Matt Hart, and publisher KMA Sullivan will share their work. Books will be available for purchase. Founded in 2011, YesYes Books is a Portland-based publisher of poetry, fiction, and experimental art “that acknowledges and celebrates our passionate, complex, and boundless natures.”
This event is free and open to the public.
About the Readers
Diannely Antigua is a Dominican-American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection Ugly MusicĀ (YesYes Books, 2019) was the winner of the Pamet River Prize. A graduate of the MFA program at NYU, she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She is the recipient of additional fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, and the Fine Arts Work Center Summer Program. Her poems can be found inĀ Washington Square Review,Ā Bennington Review, the Adroit Journal,Ā Cosmonauts Avenue,Ā Sixth Finch, and elsewhere. Her heart is in Brooklyn.
Brandon Courtney is a veteran of the United States Navy and the author ofĀ This, SisyphusĀ (YesYes Books, 2019),Ā Rooms for Rent in the Burning CityĀ (Spark Wheel Press, 2015),Ā The Grief MusclesĀ (The Sheep Meadow Press, 2014), and the chapbook,Ā Inadequate GraveĀ (YesYes Books, 2016). He has received fellowships and scholarships from Sewanee Writersā Conference, Colgate University, Juniper Summer Writersā Institute, and Seaside Writersā Conference. His poetry appears or is forthcoming inĀ Best New Poets 2009,Ā Tin House,Ā Boston Review,Ā Guernica,Ā Memorious, the Progressive, andĀ American Literary Review.
Matt Hart is the author of seven books of poems, including Radiant Action (H_NGM_N Books, 2016) andĀ Radiant Companion (Monster House Press, 2016). Everything Breaking/For Good is forthcoming from YesYes Books in September 2019. Hartās work has appeared or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast,Ā Harvard Review,Ā jubilat,Ā Kenyon Review online,Ā andĀ Poetry, among others. His awards include a Pushcart Prize, a 2013 individual artist grant from The Shifting Foundation, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writersā Conference and the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. A cofounder and the editor-in-chief of Forklift, Ohio, he lives in Cincinnati, where he is associate professor in creative writing and the chair of liberal arts at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
KMA Sullivan is the author of two poetry collections: Inclined to Riot (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019) and Necessary Fire, winner of the St. Lawrence Book Award (Black Lawrence Press, 2015). Her poems and essays have appeared in Boston Review, Southern Humanities Review, diode, the Rumpus, Forklift, Ohio, the Nervous Breakdown, Gertrude, and elsewhere. She has been awarded residencies in creative nonfiction and poetry at Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Summer Literary Seminars. KMA is coeditor in chief of Vinyl and the founder and publisher of YesYes Books.
About YesYes Books
YesYes Books has been publishing provocative collections of poetry, fiction, and experimental art since 2011. With books that are as beautiful to hold as they are to read, the press engages an international community of writers, artists, and readers.
In recent years, their titles have received national awards including the Lambda Award for Gay Poetry, The American Book Award, Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Milt Kessler Award, Eric Hoffer Award, John C. Zacharis Award, and Devilās Kitchen Reading Prize. Our titles have also been included in numerous finalist standings and best book lists such as the Lamba Award for Transgender Poetry, Believer Book Award, Balcones Poetry Prize, Norma Farber First Book Award, CLMP Firecracker Award, Julie Suk Award, Publisher’s Weekly Best Debuts of the Year, Boston Globe Best Poetry Books of the Year.
