The evening will feature readings from Bottlecap Press authors.
Join us for an evening of poetry as voices from Asheville and Charlotte, NC, come together to explore themes of grief, reconciliation, identity, and the complexities of the South. This poetic reflection is a response to the impact of human and natural disasters and the resilience of Western Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The night will conclude with a Q&A reflecting on poetry's role in nurturing compassion and processing collective trauma.
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Isaac Akanmu is a Nigerian American from Staten Island, NY. Now living in Charlotte, NC, Isaac was the recipient of the 2023 Charlotte GoodLit Fellowship. His poetry chapbook, not belonging anywhere, is available with Bottlecap Press (2022). His words also appear in The Westchester Review, Chestnut Review, Posit Journal, and elsewhere.
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Clint Bowman is a writer from Black Mountain, NC. His debut full length collection of poetry, “If Lost,” was published this past September by Loblolly Press. His chapbook, “Pretty Sh!t,” was published in 2023 by Bottlecap Press. Clint is the co-founder and facilitator of the Dark City Poets Society- a free community poetry group based out of the Black Mountain Library. More of Clint’s work has appeared in the Mud Season Review, Louisiana Literature, Roanoke Review, and Poetry South, among others.
Instagram: @Clint_Bowman
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Angelina O. Brooks is a writer and a teacher. Her first chapbook—Heavy Bloom—was published last year with Bottlecap, and the poems in it where largely generated when she solo-camped from the Blue Ridge to the Uintas with her three dogs. Now, she spends most of her time reading her UNC Charlotte students’ writing, camping with her family, and daydreaming about owning a motel in the desert. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from McNeese, and her poems have recently appeared in Halcyone, Litmosphere, and Red Rocks Review.
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Michael Conner is a writer and public health worker living in Asheville, North Carolina. He is the author of Total Annihilation (Bottle Cap Press, 2023). His work can be read in Spectra, Neologism, Magpie, and YNST, among others.
@mikonner
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Theopoet and mystic de'Angelo DIA examines cultural and moral imagination through poetry and performance art. The driving influences of his work are embodiment, mythology, and contemplation. Additionally, DIA’s work is grounded in the aesthetic of neo-Appalachian art, the charismatic nature of the Black church, and a multitude of theologies that inspire mysticism.
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Amelia Schroeder is a nerd for bees, owls, native plants, and utopian futures. She lives outside Asheville, NC, and is a member of the Dark City Poets’ Society. Amelia’s words can be found in The Dark City Poets’ Society Anthology, Understory by Loblolly Press, and in her 2023 chapbook, Hillbilly Pillory by BottleCap Press.