This month we will continue our workshop series with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, as well as lead an Intro to Prison Abolition workshop with members of Free Street Theater’s Youth Ensemble, informing their latest production 57 Blocks, which grapples with the intersections of incarceration and migration in Chicago. We’ll also return for the second year in a row to guest speak in the Creating New Anchors: An Introduction to PIC Abolition course at the University of Chicago, taught by Sharlyn Grace and Durrell Malik Washington Sr.

Our dear friend Kemi Alabi’s first collection of poetry “Against Heaven” is about to be released! Published by Graywolf Press and the winner of The Academy of American Poets First Book Award, this work has been a multiyear labor that has already received many deserved accolades. We are honored to join Kemi alongside E. Hughes and Aricka Foreman for a virtual reading on April 5th in celebration of the book’s official release, hosted by Women & Children First. Register for the online event here. Congrats, boo, and thanks for including us!

In the latter part of the month we’ll be traveling to North Carolina, both to visit family and to participate in a weeklong residency with Trillium Arts in Mars Hill, taking some time to revisit our piece World After This One. While there, we’ll also join Ricky Tucker—who is touring with his book “And the Category Is…“—at Bagatelle Books in Asheville on April 23rd for a talk titled Ball Culture + Abolition. Tucker and I will each ask the other questions about our writing, discussing the intersections between Black queer self-determination and struggles against policing and incarceration. If you’re in the area, RSVP for that event here.

We’re in the final phases of our 3AP fundraiser for the Black Performance Exchange! We’ve hit our original goal of $5K in the first month (thank you so much to those of you who made that happen!) and are now targeting a stretch goal of $7K in hopes of including a few more artists. We’re also excited to share that the newest partner in the exchange is the DuSable Museum of African American History, which will serve as the project’s home base for Chicago events in July! Huge gratitude to those of you who have already supported the project. Please keep sharing the link with your networks, and consider donating if you haven’t already!

BH