Poetry Kickoff with Maria Fernanda

Join award-winning poet Maria Fernanda (published in The Rumpus, Luna Luna Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4) for an afternoon workshop and an evening reading. Originally from Northeast DC, Maria Fernanda has read her work to international audiences in Nikiti, Moscow, and Hamburg. Workshop: 3-4pm During the afternoon, Maria Fernanda will host a poetry workshop with generative writing exercises in the Learning Lab. Inspired by the Folger's collection of Shakespeare's First Folios , this workshop invites participants to compose their own poems using her writing prompts and to bind their own three-sheet folio. Reading: 5:30-6:30pm In the evening, Maria Fernanda will take the stage in the Theatre to read poems from her own work and from the poets who have influenced her (Nikki Giovanni, Robin Coste Lewis, and others), and will present the poems created earlier in the day by workshop participants.