Justice – And Poetry – For All
Justice – And Poetry – for All is an annual gathering that explores the intersection of social justice and poetry in a dynamic and inclusive space.
Poetry & Democracy
Friday, October 18th 2024 - 6:00 pm (Doors 5:30)
Featuring
Adrie Kusserow
Rajnii Eddins
VT Youth Poet Laureate Harmony Belle Devoe
and VYPL runner-up Emma Paris
Hosted by Diana Whitney with opening remarks from Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas
Food: Taino Kitchen / Mocktails: wild sings the bird
Firefolk Arts
4424 Main St.
Waitsfield, VT
Adrie Kusserow
Adrie Kusserow is the author of three books of poetry (REFUGE and Hunting Down the Monk published by BOA Editions, Ltd, New American Poets Series) and recently, THE TRAUMA MANTRAS: A Memoir in Prose Poems (Duke University Press, 2024), as well as an ethnography American Individualisms (Palgrave MacMillan, Culture, Mind and Society Series). Her work has been featured in The Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Harvard Review, Prairie Schooner, Plume, and numerous other poetry journals and anthologies. Her ethnographic poetry and writings on poetry as an ethnographic tool have also been featured in Crumpled Paper Boat: Experiments in Ethnographic Writing (Duke University Press), The Creative Ethnographer’s Notebook (Routledge); A Different Kind of Ethnography (U Toronto Press); and other anthologies.
Kusserow has served as poetry co-editor for Anthropology and Humanism and Green Mountains Review and taught poetry in South Sudan and Bhutan on behalf of the Iowa International Writers Conference/US Department of State. She is also co-founder of Africa ELI (Education and Leadership Initiative) along with the Lost Boys of Sudan resettled in Vermont which supports refugee girls education. She is currently Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont.
Rajnii Eddins
Originally from Seattle Washington, Spoken Word Poet/Emcee and Teaching Artist Rajnii Eddins has been engaging diverse community audiences for over 30 years. He was the youngest member of the Afrikan American Writers Alliance at age 11 and has been actively sharing with youth and community in Vermont since 2010.
Eddins’ diverse talents and passions allow him to offer a wide variety of powerful experiences that foster connection, learning, and mutual growth. He thrives at creating spaces that are educational, explorative, and celebratory, whether in a classroom, a conference hall, a community center, or online.
Tina Picz Photography
Harmony Belle Devoe
Harmony Belle Devoe places a high value on the transformative power of words to educate, inspire, and create social impact. Her multiracial heritage of Filipino, Indigenous Nipmuc, and white, motivates her to address the injustices in our world, especially those brought upon marginalized communities and the Earth. Having lived in five states and among a wide spectrum of communities, she holds a deep belief in the importance of open-mindedness and the need to advocate for others to embrace diversity and understanding. She finds it her responsibility to write in the pursuit of a more just and equitable world. Harmony Belle Devoe is Vermont’s first Youth Poet Laureate.
Emma Paris
Emma Paris is a young writer, naturalist, activist, and introvert hailing from Putney, Vermont. She has been studying poetry and other forms of creative writing for over eight years. Her poetry received Gold and Silver Keys from Scholastic Art and Writing Awards 2024; was published in Chautauqua "Close Encounters'' 2023; and she attended the Governors Institute of the Arts 2022 in Castleton Vermont. She is an alumnus of the Ruth Stone House Next Galaxy Retreat 2021. Emma’s work has appeared in The Brattleboro Reformer and VTDigger through the Young Writers Project; and her poetry has been featured in Poems Around Town and Poem City programs across the country. She has poetry in Zaum Magazine 28th Issue, (m)othertongues Fall/Spring issue 2024, and Wyldcraft Literary Magazine Spring/Summer Issue, respectively. Emma was a Youth Poet Laureate of Vermont runner-up in 2024. She is a first year student at Bennington College this fall, where she is studying creative writing and environmental science.
Diana Whitney, host
Diana Whitney writes across the genres in Vermont with a focus on feminism, motherhood, and sexuality. Her first book, Wanting It, became an indie bestseller and won the Rubery Book Award in poetry. She was the longtime poetry critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she featured women poets and LGBTQ+ voices in her column. Her essays, op-eds, and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review, Glamour, and many more. Her anthology, You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves, was released by Workman Publishing to critical acclaim, won the 2022 Claudia Lewis Award for the best poetry book of the year, and became a YA bestseller.
The 2024 Justice – And Poetry – For All program is funded in part by
