Opening Event for Free Bookstore Donation from Penelope Kelsey, Saturday, May 7, 2022, 4pm. w/Crisosto Apache, Aerik Francis, and Meca’Ayo Cole.
Join us on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at 4pm for the opening for the large donation to the Counterpath free bookstore from Penelope Kelsey, recently retired native studies scholar who left her office library to the Counterpath free bookstore. Hundreds of extraordinary works will be made freely available at this event, so please arrive early! A sample of about 50 titles can be found here. We’ll also feature a reading by Crisosto Apache, Aerik Francis, and Meca’Ayo Cole. The event is free and open to the public and we’ll have light refreshments.
Penelope Kelsey is Seneca (patrilineal descent) with familial roots in western Pennsylvania and New York. She is Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her book, Tribal Theory in Native American Literature, was published by University of Nebraska Press in 2008. She is the editor of Strawberries in Brooklyn: Maurice Kenny, Mohawk Poet, which will be published by the State University of New York Press in 2011; the collection features essays by Joseph Bruchac, Eric Gansworth, Lisa Brooks, James Stevens, and others. Her current manuscript, Building a Longhouse, examines contemporary Haudenosaunee literature, film, and epistemology and the role of activism at their intersection.
Crisosto Apache is from Mescalero, New Mexico (US), on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, they currently live in the Denver metro area in Colorado, with their spouse. They are Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné (Navajo) of the ‘Ásh??hí (Salt Clan) born for the Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan) and are Assistant Professor of English at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design and is also the Associate Poetry Editor for The Offing Magazine. They hold an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Crisosto’s debut collection is GENESIS (Lost Alphabet). Crisosto’s second forthcoming poetry collection is Ghostword out by Gnashing Teeth Publication mid-2022.
Aerik Francis (they/he) is a Queer Black & Latinx poet & teaching artist based in Denver, Colorado, USA. Aerik is the author of the chapbook BODYELECTRONIC recently released in April 2022 with Trouble Department Press. Aerik also recently released an EP of poetry-songs called SYZYGY (available now on bandcamp). They are a Canto Mundo poetry fellow, a The Watering Hole poetry fellow, and recently the Spring workshop resident with Tiny Spoon LitMag. Aerik is also a poetry reader for Underblong poetry journal and a coordinator with Slam Nuba. They have poetry published widely, links of which may be found at their website phaentompoet.com . Find them on IG/TW/youtube/soundcloud @phaentompoet
Meca’Ayo Cole (aka Tameca L Coleman) is a queer singer, multi-genre writer, multidisciplinary artist, editor (ANMLY, just femme & dandy), massage therapist who currently lives in Denver Colorado. Their work explores heartbreak and healing, finding the words for our experiences, familial estrangement, being ‘in-between’ things, finding beauty, even during times of strife, and movement towards reconciliation. They have published work in Rigorous Magazine, LitPub, Inverted Syntax, Full Stop Reviews, Heavy Feather Review, Lambda Literary Poetry Spotlight, Denver Westword, Colorado Independent, Denver North Star, and more. Their photography has been featured in literary magazines, newspapers and group exhibits. Their debut book an identitypolyptych debuted September 1st, 2021 from The Elephants on the Salish Sea. For more information about Meca’Ayo, you can find them online via the handle @sireneatspoetry.