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Three poets from this culinary anthology read work that delves into the shaping influence of history, culture, and identity--and celebrates the glory of food itself. This evening is in conjunction with Before Farm to Table: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures, a Mellon initiative in collaborative research at the Folger.


Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Sandra Beasley has authored three poetry collections: Count the Waves; I Was the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Theories of Falling, winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize. Her memoir, Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, engages living with disability.

Georgia native Sean Hill is the author of Dangerous Goods, awarded the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor. He is a consulting editor at Broadsided Press and an assistant professor in the Creative Writing Program at UA-Fairbanks.

Noted Southern scholar and author W. Ralph Eubanks will read from his favorite poems from Vinegar and Char as well as introduce and moderate the post-reading conversation. Eubanks is the author of Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past, which Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley named as one of the best nonfiction books of 2003. Currently he is a visiting professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi.

The reception is co-sponsored with The Southern Foodways Alliance.

Unfortunately Atsuro Riley will not be able to participate in this reading, as originally scheduled.