Lyrae
Van Clief-Stefanon’s debut collection, Black Swan, won
the 2001 Cave Canem Prize for emerging African American poets and the
praise of esteemed poets like Lucille Clifton, who says, “Here are poems
that are clear and majestic and important. We need this work and this
poet now.”
Mythology and Biblical stories, her Pentecostal upbringing, and sexuality are dominant themes, and Van Clief-Stefanon’s love of form is evident—whether she's writing a sonnet, a villanelle, or a “bop” poem. Woven throughout is this poet’s definition of survival: “Only when we hear a woman’s own words, only when her story continues, can we say she has survived, that she has been saved.”
In
Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s
best-selling and controversial debut book about the intricacies of inter-generational
urban poverty, survival requires luck and street smarts, and young people—the
odds stacked against them—make family where they can find it.
LeBlanc spent eleven years in intimate contact with her subjects. Through her, we see a generation of teenagers raising children, learn the myriad misdemeanors that reduce or terminate benefits, and experience the freedoms of subjugated girls when their boyfriends end up behind bars.
LeBlanc is the recipient of a Bunting fellowship from Radcliffe and a MacDowell Colony residency, among many writing awards.
photo of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc by Kristine Larsen
Suggested Donation: $5 ($3 for members)
The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.