The Potter’s House is thrilled to partner with 1455 Literary Arts for a special reading with Sean Murphy, who will read from his new collection The Blackened Blues, accompanied by singer and actor Ayana (Reed) Ogunsunlade.
The Blackened Blues, which Dr. Cornel West has called “a powerful and beautiful collection of poems,” is a searing and timely take on American culture that finds perspective on the present by interrogating our past. These poems are part of a large and ongoing project that discusses (and celebrates) some of the author’s personal heroes who remain far less celebrated than they deserve to be. As it happens, many of them are musicians, hampered in various ways by discrimination, ranging from old fashioned racism to institutional and cultural indifference. Though there’s an elegiac sadness suffusing this collection, there’s also acknowledgment of defiant genius: they fought their battles bravely, in their art and in their lives. The Blackened Blues seeks to capture something (or, hopefully, more than a few things) essential about their lives, bearing witness while also paying homage. More info and blurbs via Finishing Line Press
Purchase The Blackened Blues
1455 is thrilled to partner with The Potter’s House bookshop.
Event Details
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2021 | 3:00 PM | THE POTTER’S HOUSE (MAP)
Attendees will be required to wear masks. This event is free, but you can make a donation to support 1455 in offering accessible programing.
About Ayana (reed) Ogunsunlade
Ayana (Reed) Ogunsunlade (pronounced oh-goon-soon-lah-day) is a singer and actor from Washington, D.C. known for her unique ability to capture an “audience’s emotions” as mentioned by the press. She loves bringing meaningful stories to audiences that both entertain and educate. Ayana shows her versatility through performances such as an opera debut in Italy in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte to starring in the Helen Hayes nominated blues-musical Blackberry Daze which garnered rave reviews from The Washington Post. Her performance skills were developed at Duke Ellington School of the Arts high school and the Friends of Carter Barron Performing Arts Foundation, landing her on stages as prestigious as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Theatre. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance and a minor in African and African American Studies from George Mason University. Ayana is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® where she serves her local community through arts initiatives and other service projects. Ayana is an acting student of Anthony Abeson of New York.
About Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy has been publishing fiction, poetry, reviews (of music, movie, book, food), and essays on the technology industry for more than twenty years. He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and been quoted in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and AdAge. A long-time columnist for PopMatters, his work has also appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Memoir Magazine, and others. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize two times, once for short fiction and once for poetry. His poems have been widely anthologized, including the collections Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era, This Is What America Looks Like, Lo-Fi Poetry Series: Poet Sounds, and Written in Arlington: Poems for Arlington, VA. Previous publications include the memoir Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone, the novel Not to Mention a Nice Life, and the non-fiction collections Murphy’s Law, Volumes One and Two.
