Join the California History Section for a virtual discussion on "Words of Liberation: The Exploration of Blackness through Poetry" on Thursday, June 13th at 6PM via Zoom!

Join the California History Section as Kim McMillon, the editor of Black Fire – This Time, moderates a conversation seeking to clear the cloudy lenses and outdated images of Blackness that Black women have had to navigate. Robin Coste Lewis, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles (2017-2021), and devorah major, Poet Laureate of San Francisco (2002-2006), discuss how their poetry has used words of liberation to empower and heal, pinpointing the reality of Black women's lives; how the power of their poetry can generate change; and how it acknowledges a history of Blackness that needs to be celebrated and told. 

Dr. Kim McMillon is a producer, playwright, and contributor to the anthology Some Other Blues: New Perspectives on Amiri Baraka (Ohio University Press, 2021). McMillon is the editor of Willow Books’ anthology Black Fire—This Time, published March 15, 2022.  More recently in December of last year, Dr. McMillon taught “The Poetry of Healing the Body” for the San Francisco Writers’ Institute. She is currently the Community Liaison for the Arts for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, & Arts at UC Merced.

Robin Coste Lewis won the National Book Award for Voyage of the Sable Venus, her first collection of poetry, in 2015. It was named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New York Times and Literary Hub named it one of the best books of the last twenty years. Her most recent book is To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness,(Knopf, 2022), which won the PEN Voelker Poetry Award and the NAACP Award for Excellence in Literature. Her new book, Archive of Desire, which celebrates the work of Greek poet Constantin Cavafy, is forthcoming from Knopf in 2025. The former poet laureate of Los Angeles, Lewis is currently writer in residence at the University of Southern California.

devorah major born and raised in California, granddaughter of immigrants, documented and undocumented, devorah major served as San Francisco’s Third Poet Laureate (2002-2006). A baker of pies and lover of jazz. Her poetry has carried her to many countries where she has performed with and without musicians. In 2022 she received the Regina Coppola International Literary Award in Italy where her sixth book of poetry, with open arms, was released in a bilingual edition in 2020. A Willow Press Editor’s Choice her seventh book of poetry, Califia’s Daughter, was published by Willow Press in 2020. She is always looking to build a better world and uses her science fiction stories as one voice in Afro-Futurism. She will put down her pen to march and call for justice.