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An evening with poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, who will discuss his new book of poetry, Doggerel. Simultaneously philosophical and playful, Doggerel is a revelatory meditation on Blackness, masculinity and vulnerability as well as family, falling in love, friendship and those who accompany us on our walk through life.
Betts is a foremost chronicler of the ways prison shapes and transforms American life. In Doggerel, he examines this subject through a more prosaic―but equally rich―lens: dogs. He reminds us that, as our lives are broken and put back together, the only witness often barks instead of talks. In these poems, which touch on companionship in its many forms, Betts seamlessly and skillfully deploys the pantoum, ghazal and canzone, in conversation with artists such as Freddie Gibbs and Lil Wayne.
Book sale and signing by Elm Street Books.
Registration required.
Reginald Dwayne Betts is the author of three books of poetry, including the best-selling Felon. He is a poet, lawyer and the founder and CEO of Freedom Reads.
For more than 20 years, he has used his poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, he has transformed his collection of poetry, the American Book Award-winning Felon, into a solo theater show that explores the post incarceration experience and lingering consequences of a criminal record through poetry, stories and engaging with the timeless and transcendental art of paper-making.
In 2019, Betts won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for his New York Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. He has been awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emerson Fellow at New America, and most recently a Civil Society Fellow at Aspen.
Betts holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and lives in New Haven with his dog.