Can liberation be found in writing? Nevada Humanities, the Gender, Race and Identity Department and the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, welcome poets Denice Frohman and Raquel Salas Rivera for readings, discussion, and Q+A. Join us as these poets share their deeply intimate experiences with writing, as they highlight themes of colonialism, the body and gender identity, translation, and the relationship between literature and liberation. 

Denice Frohman is a poet, performer, and educator from New York City. Her work has appeared in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump, and ESPNW, and garnered over 10 million views online. A former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, she has been featured on national and international stages from The Apollo to the White House.

Raquel Salas Rivera was born in Puerto Rico and grew up there and in the United States. Rivera is the author of several collections of poetry and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, Rivera was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow and they served as the 2018–2019 poet laureate of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2020, they were awarded the Ambroggio Prize for their book x/ex/exis and their book lo terciario/the tertiary received the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry.

Salas Rivera and Frohman have performed together in the past and participated in discussions about the diasporic relationships between Philadelphia and Puerto Rico. Both poets also have also received residencies and awards from the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures and CantoMundo.

This program is produced by Nevada Humanities, the Gender Race and Identity Department and the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, with support from the Hilliard Endowment.