Join Anders Carlson-Wee and Douglas Manuel as they read from their new collections, Disease of Kings and Trouble Funk. The reading will be followed by an in-depth conversation moderated by Marin County Poet Laureate Francesca Bell centering on disparities of income and opportunity, living with deprivation, and how artists can survive late-stage capitalism in America.

Anders Carlson-Wee lived a life of extreme frugality, scavenging dumpsters for food and other necessities and hopping freight trains, in order to give himself time to read and write and develop his poetry. His book Disease of Kings (Norton, 2023) tells stories from his years of living on society’s margins, a time touched by deprivations and struggle but also by beauty and plenty and joy.

Douglas Manuel was raised by his aunt after his mother died of MS when he was eight, and after his father, having fallen victim to the crack epidemic of the 80s was handed a long prison sentence. Despite these early losses and other hardships, Manuel went on to earn his Ph.D. from USC and to engage his family’s history and what it means to be a Black man in America in his poems. Trouble Funk (Red Hen Press, 2023) tells the story of his parents’ love set against a backdrop of drugs and violence and the music his father, a DJ, joyfully spun.

Francesca Bell is the author of Bright Stain, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Julie Suk Award, and What Small Sound, and the translator of Max Sessner’s Whoever Drowned Here, all from Red Hen Press. Her work appears in B O D Y, ELLE, Los Angeles Review of Books, New England Review, North American Review, Mid-American Review, and Rattle. She is the former poetry editor of River Styx, the translation editor of Los Angeles Review, and the poet laureate of Marin County.

Registration is highly recommended.
Adults and high school students only! Free wine reception at 6:30 p.m. for pre-registered guests. The Waitlist line opens up at 6:45 on a first come, first served basis. SIGN UP HERE