Trans and Genderqueer Poetry Student Showcase ft. Zefyr Lisowski & Cameron Awkward-Rich

Join us on the evening of Friday, May 9th as we host a collaborative reading event, showcasing work of students from Miller Oberman's "Trans and Genderqueer Poetry" course at Eugene Lang College alongside established poets Zefyr Lisowski & Cameron Awkward-Rich. Doors will open at 6 PM & readings will being at 7 PM, the event will also be livestreamed via Zoom.

A Zoom link will be emailed to all ticket holders at approximately 5:30 PM and again when the readings begin at 7 PM. Closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us at bkp@brooklynpoets.org.

Note that by participating, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees are required to wear masks (regardless of vaccination status) except readers at a safe distance on stage, and we will have masks available. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.

Featuring

Zefyr Lisowski is the author of Uncanny Valley Girls, an essay collection about horror movies, exes, and intimacy (Harper Perennial 2025). A 2023 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Nonfiction and 2023 Queer|Art Fellow, she’s also the author of two poetry collections, Girl Work (Noemi Press 2024) and Blood Box (Black Lawrence 2019). Raised in the Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Zefyr lives in Brooklyn and at zefyrlisowski.com.

Cameron Awkward-Rich is the author of two collections of poetry, as well as The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment (Duke University Press, 2022). His third collection, An Optimism, is forthcoming from Persea Books in Fall 2025. His writing has been supported by fellowships from Cave Canem, the Lannan Foundation and the ACLS. Presently, he is an associate professor in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

COVID-19 Policy

Effective 2024, all event attendees are required to wear masks due to the current prevalence of cases in NYC. Masks will be available at the door.

The current metrics available, including NYC wastewater data and the CDC’s Respiratory Virus Activity Levels, both indicate high levels of COVID and other illnesses. While your personal risk tolerance may vary, the unmitigated spread of COVID and other respiratory illnesses disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our community—including those who are immunocompromised or don’t have the privilege of paid sick days to heal and recover. We hope you’ll join us in taking the actions we can to make our space welcoming to all and to keep each other safe. Please stay home if you are experiencing symptoms, have a positive COVID test or someone close to you has recently tested positive.

We strongly encourage daytime visitors and workshop attendees to wear masks. Workshop instructors may choose to enforce a more stringent policy at their own discretion. Additionally, workshop participants may be required to wear masks as an accessibility accommodation for other participants.

While we do our best, Brooklyn Poets cannot guarantee zero risk. A risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in all public settings. By entering the building, students, teachers and other attendees accept the risk of exposure and knowingly waive and release Brooklyn Poets from any liability related to COVID-19.

Brooklyn Poets Code of Conduct

Brooklyn Poets will not tolerate any instances of discrimination, harassment or abuse in conjunction with any of our programs. Respect and consideration for others, both within and outside our programs, are core values to be upheld by all participants. Discrimination against and/or harassment of community members on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status or any other factor is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Program participants are expected to adhere to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Should a board or staff member, independent contractor, volunteer or program participant be found to violate any aspect of the organization’s code of conduct, Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss them from the program. Consequences may include, but not be limited to, dismissal from the current activity, suspension, ineligibility for all future activities, and/or loss of payment or fees. If you have any issues to report, please do not hesitate to email feedback@brooklynpoets.org, which will send your message to everyone on the Conduct Committee noted below, or if you’d prefer you can contact anyone listed individually and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Executive Director r kay: kay@brooklynpoets.org
Board President Eugenia Leigh: eugenia.leigh@gmail.com
Board Co-Vice-President Miller Oberman: miller.oberman@gmail.com