3rd Saturday Poetry in Chinatown

Susana Praver-Pérez is a poet, visual artist, editor, and organizer of cultural events. Her debut collection of poetry Hurricanes, Love Affairs, and Other Disasters received the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (2022). Her second collection, Return Against the Flow, (Black Lawrence Press, 2024), was chosen by both Ms. Magazine and NYU’s Latinx Project as one of the best 30+ poetry books of the year and was awarded the 2025 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Book of Poetry Award in 2025. Susana divides her time between Oakland, California and San Juan, Puerto Rico and writes through the lens formed in the liminal space between languages, cultures, and geographies.

Website: susanapraverperez.com

ABDUL KENYATTA is the founder and Executive Director of The SPEAKEASY STORYTELLERS since 2002. The SPEAKEASY STORYTELLERS provide workshops and performances in storytelling and community events.

An old-school poet from Harlem and one of the founding members of POETS FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE, he is an avid writer, poet, workshop co-ordinator and stage actor. He has performed as a jazz/blues vocalist in Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, and across America.

"There is a liveliness in his resonance and presentation that produces an assortment of shades, hues, and styles, suffused into a mellow and rich sound- full of drive and urban rhythm. He brings a poetic perspective to the blues and an Afro- jazz perspective in his poetry."

- Eric Dabney, Educator

He is the STREET CORNER POET, a professor of URBAN NEWS and JAZZALOGICAL MUSEOETRY.

Parking tip:

$6 all-day parking at St. Mary’s Square Garage.

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Host or Publisher Clarion Performing Arts Center