Published by Augury Books earlier this year, “Who’s Your Daddy” is Arisa White’s debut poetic memoir, which poet Patricia Smith says, “unreels like heart-wrenching fragments of film.” It is a lyrical, genre-bending coming-of-age tale featuring a queer, Black, Guyanese American woman who, while seeking to define her own place in the world, negotiates an estranged relationship with her father. Incorporating poetry and prose, “Who’s Your Daddy” employs the motif of stars and constellations to navigate and populate the distance that characterizes this father-daughter dynamic. Arisa will read excerpts from the book accompanied by original music by José G. Martinez and student vocalists from Colby College. Artistic direction provided by Ellen Sebastian Chang and funding provided by Colby College’s Humanities Research.
Arisa White is an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Colby College. She is the author of “Who’s Your Daddy”, co-editor of “Home Is Where You Queer Your Heart”, and co-author of “Biddy Mason Speaks Up”, the second book in the Fighting for Justice Series for young readers. Her poetry collections have won the Nautilus Book Award, Maine Literary Book Award, Per Diem Poetry Prize, Augury Book Prize, and have been nominated for an NAACP Image Award, Lambda Literary Award, California Book Award, and Wheatley Book Award. Arisa has received residencies, fellowships, or scholarships from The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Juniper Summer Writing Institute, Headlands Center for the Arts, Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Hedgebrook, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Prague Summer Program, Fine Arts Work Center, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. As the creator of the Beautiful Things Project, Arisa curate’s poetic collaborations that center queer BIPOC narratives. She is a Cave Canem fellow and serves on the board of directors for Foglifter and Nomadic Press and is a community advisory board member for MWPA. To learn more about her other publications and projects, visit arisawhite.com.
General admission tickets are $10.00 per person and are available online at http://astro.umaine.edu, by calling 207.581.1341, or at the Versant Power Astronomy Center box office.
Audience members receive a copy of “Who’s Your Daddy” with ticket purchase. Book signing follows the reading.
