Point of Contact Gallery Kicks Off Cruel April 2021

Point of Contact will once again host nationally and internationally celebrated poets for this year’s Cruel April Reading Series, being presented virtually each Thursday through April. The annual series, held in celebration of National Poetry Month, also marks the release of the 14th annual poetry collection, “Corresponding Voices,” featuring the work of this year’s readers—Ángelo Néstore, Arthur Flowers, David Lloyd, Ada Salas and Graciela Cros.

This program is possible thanks to the support of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers (CMAC) at Syracuse University, in addition to SU’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and CNY ARTS.

Ángelo Néstore
April 8, 6 p.m. ET

Ángelo Néstore is a non-binary queer poet, performer and translator. They are director of the poetry publisher Letraversal and co-direct the Irreconciliables International Poetry Festival. Their first poetry collection was “Adán o nada.” Lawrence Schimel’s translation of their second poetry collection, “Impure Acts,” was a finalist for the Thom Gunn Award. In the original Spanish, this collection won the 32nd Hiperión Poetry Award. Their third collection, “Hágase mi voluntad,” won the 20th Emilio Prados Award.

Register here: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcoc-CorzwqHNdgBSyYp6bPIdIwuuWGhuZO

Arthur Flowers
April 15, 6 p.m. ET

Arthur Flowers is a novelist, essayist and performance poet. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he is the author of novels “Another Good Loving Blues” and “De Mojo Blues;” a children’s book, “Cleveland Lee’s Beale Street Band;” a memoir/manifesto, “Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman” and a graphic nonfiction, “I See The Promise Land.” Flowers has published shorts and articles and is a bluesbased performance poet. He is a founding member/director of New Renaissance Writers Guild, NYC; The Griot Shop, Memphis; and the Pan African Literary Forum. He was previously executive director of the Harlem Writers Guild, and the recipient of NEA and NYSFA awards in fiction and nonfiction.

Register here: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwudOmopz4sGtdE0eOvIEXZSukR747qm2FJ

David Lloyd
April 22, 6 p.m. ET

David Lloyd is the author of 11 books, including four poetry collections: “The Body’s Compass,” “Warriors,” “The Gospel According to Frank,” and “The Everyday Apocalypse.” Lloyd’s fiction titles include “Boys: Stories and a Novella,” “Over the Line,” and “The Moving of the Water.” In 2000, he received the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. In 2001, he was a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Bangor University (Wales, UK). Lloyd also received a Fulbright Scholar Award for residence at Cardiff University (Wales, UK) in 2021. His poems and stories have appeared in numerous journals, including Crab Orchard Review, Denver Quarterly and Virginia Quarterly Review. Lloyd directs the Creative Writing Program at LeMoyne College in Syracuse.

Register here: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwpc-isrT0iHtcpWgqYZshTwHUl1lE34QEf

Ada Salas
April 23, 5 p.m. ET

Ada Salas was born in Cáceres, Spain in 1965. Her books of poetry include “Arte y memoria del inocente,”Variaciones en blanco,” “La sed,” Noticia de la luz,” “Lugar de la derrota,” “Esto no es el silencio,” “No duerme el animal,” “Limbo y otros poemas,” and “Descendimiento.” Also, in collaboration with photographer Tete Alejandre, Salas published “Reflejos.” The books “Ashes to Ashes” and “Diez Mandamientos” are the fruit of her work with painter Jesús Plancencia.

In 2016, the press Fondo de Cultura Económica published the anthology, Escribir y borrar, that also includes a selection of her essays. Highlights of her prose work about poetic writing are the books Alguien aquí (Hiperión, 2005), El margen, el error, la tachadura (de la metáfora y otros asuntos más o menos poéticos), (Diputación de Badajoz, Best Essay Award “Fernando Pérez”, 2011) and Lengua del alma (“Poética y Poesía”, Fundación Juan March, 2019).

In 2019 Salas was awarded the “Medalla de Extremadura” for her body of work.

Register here: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pd-CrpjMqGtaDxLIH-9BU7DR7xJXDBI1O

Graciela Cros
April 29, 6 p.m. ET

Graciela Cros was born in the Carlos Casares providence of Buenos Aires in 1945. She has lived in Bariloche for 50 years. Poet, narrator and organizer of poetry workshops, Cros also conducts seminars and offers advice to writers.

Cros has published “Poemas con bicho raro y cornisas,” “Pares Partes,” “Flor Azteca,” “Decimos,” “La escena imperfecta,” “Urca,” “Cordelia en Guatemala,” “Libro de Boock,” “La cuna de Newton,” “Hacer la de Elvis,” “Mansilla,” “Cantos de la gaviota cocinera- Antología personal,” “Pampa de Huenuleo” and “Una posición propia.” Her novel, “Muere más tarde,” received the First Prize of the National Cultural Secretary. In 1995, Cros edited “Antología de Poetas Jóvenes de Bariloche – Marcas en el tránsito,” for which she selected the poems and wrote the prologue, and in 2019 she edited “Transversal. Poesía contemporánea de Río Negro. Antología,” where she brings together 36 women poets from the province Río Negro. Her poetic body of work, distinguished and translated on many occasions, appears in numerous national and international anthologies including “La frontera móvil, Antología de poesía contemporánea de la Patagonia argentina,” “200 años de poesía argentina” and “Patagonia literaria VI, Antología de poesía del sur argentino.”

Register here: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcvc-mtqzgoHdMjlUjMDuUlNKyCmaZ_Y0N0