#SplitThisRock2018 Sessions: Race, Identity & Racial Justice

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness 2018 invites poets, writers, activists, and dreamers to Washington, DC for three days of poetry, community building, and creative transformation. The festival features readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, parties, activism—opportunities to speak out for justice, build connection and community, and celebrate the many ways poetry can act as an agent for social change.

On-site registration is available every day during the festival at the festival hub: National Housing Center, 1201 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. A sliding scale of fees is available for full registration, beginning at $200. Student registration (with ID) is $75. One day passes are $85. Two-day passes are $170. 

Full festival schedule with session descriptions is available on the website. The Festival Mobile App is Live! Download the free app  for iOS and Android today for easy access to the schedule, session descriptions, presenter bios, and more! Just search your app store for Split This Rock. 

We are pleased to present a selection of sessions on the themes related to race, identity, and racial justice.

Shifting & Showing Cultures: A QTPOC Poetics Ritual (Panel)
Presenters: Kay Ulanday Barrett, Sonia Guiñansaca, Muriel Leung, Rajiv Mohabir,
Alan Pelaez
Thursday, April 19, 3:30-5 pm
American Association of University Women Room 1

The Poet as Parent: Inoculating For and Against the World (Reading)

Presenters: Mario Chard, Camille T. Dungy, Erika Meitner, David Thacker
Thursday, April 19, 3:30-5 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Memorial Hall

Robots Speak Back!: Asian American Speculative Poetry Reading (Reading)
Presenters: Neil Aitken, Ching-In Chen, Rachelle Cruz, Sally Wen Mao, Lo Kwa Mei-en, Noel Mariano, Margaret Rhee
Friday, April 20, 11 am - 12:30 pm
National Housing Center Room B

This is a Love Story To Me and My People (Workshop)
Presenter: Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez
Friday, April 20, 11 am - 12:30 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Conference Room

Walking Tour: The Rise of DC's Black Intelligentsia (The Dunbars in LeDroit Park)
Tour Leader: Kim Roberts
Length: 1.5 hours | Starts and ends: Shaw Metro Station | Pre-registration required via this Google Form.
Friday, April 20, 11 am - 12:30 pm

Islands and Borders: Reimagining the Poetry of the Black Diaspora (Panel)
Presenters: Kwame Dawes, Jonterri Gadson, Shauna M. Morgan, Christopher Rose,
Frank X Walker
Friday, April 20, 1:30-3 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Room 102

Timeless, Infinite Light: QTIPOC POETS (Reading)
Presenters: Andrea Abi-Karam, Angel Dominguez, Jasmine Gibson, Joel Gregory, Hannah Kezema, Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, Raquel Salas Rivera
Friday, April 20, 1:30-3 pm
American Association of University Women Room 1

After Tizon & Duterte: Reclaiming Narratives of the Filipinx Diaspora (Panel)
Presenters: Regie Cabico, Jerrica Escoto, Christopher Rose, Janice Lobo Sapigao
Friday, April 20, 3:30-5 pm
National Housing Center Room C

Mixed Messages: Disrupting Dominant Narratives of Multiracial Identity in 2018 (Workshop)
Presenters: Natasha Chapman and Naliyah Kaya
Friday, April 20, 3:30-5 pm
American Association of University Women Room 2

Radical Traditions: tatiana de la tierra and Gloria Anzaldúa's Poetry (Panel)
Presenters: Sarah A. Chavez, Julie R. Enszer, Olga García Echeverría, Sara Gregory, 
Dan Vera
Friday, April 20, 3:30-5 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Room G-3

Witness and Experience: Luso/Latinx Poets Voicing Brick City Life (Reading)

Presenters: Marina Carreira, Hugo Dos Santos, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Ysabel Y. Gonzalez, paulA neves, Dimitri Reyes
Saturday, April 21, 9 - 10:30 am
National Housing Center Room A

Holding Space Beyond the Page: Black Women Writers on Solidarity (Panel)
Presenters: Destiny Birdsong, April Gibson, Kateema Lee, Maya MarshallSaturday, April 21, 11 am - 12:30 pm

National Housing Center Room D

When I Enter: Black Queer Femme Sex, Resistance, and Survival (Reading)
Presenters: M. Saida Agostini, Xandria Phillips, Casey Lynne Rocheteau, 

Alison C. Rollins

Saturday, April 21, 11 am - 12:30 pm

National Housing Center Room B

Carved from the Rock: WOC Poets on Expanding Sanctuary (Reading)
Presenters: Mahogany L. Browne, Yesenia Montilla, Cynthia Oka, Seema Reza
Saturday, April 21, 1:30-3 pm
National Housing Center Room D

Invisible Poets: Literary Activists as Writers (Reading)
Presenters: Elmaz Abinader, Sarah Browning, Cathy Linh Che, Celeste Guzmán Mendoza
Saturday, April 21, 1:30-3 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Conference Room

Poets at the Borderlands of Change: Celebrating Gloria Anzaldúa (Reading)
Presenters: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Tara Betts, Sarah A. Chavez, Olga García Echeverría, Miguel M. Morales, Dan Vera
Saturday, April 21, 1:30-3 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Room 102

Writing from Where We Are: Race, Queerness, and Bearing Witness (Workshop)
Presenters: Kali Boehle-Silva and Bianca Vazquez

Saturday, April 21, 1:30-3 pm
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Room G-3