This multimedia poetry workshop looks at the works of poet and warrior Audre Lorde. Specifically, we will discuss her essay “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.”
We will discuss Audre Lorde's essay “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” focusing on our responsibility to care for ourselves and our community, immortality, and the power of our voices through poetry. We will discuss the essay, her poems, and how we can begin to lean more into the actions we need to take for ourselves and our community.
You can click here to read the PDF of Audre Lorde's essay and also, here is the audio if you would like to listen to it.
CHANTEL MASSEY is a storyteller, poet, author, teaching artist, editor, organizer, educator, practicing Afrofuturist, and avid anime lover from Indiana. Massey is a fellow of The Watering Hole and received support from VONA poetry, Brooklyn Poets, Hurston/Wright Foundation, and Tin House. She is a 2023 Best of Net Award winner and 2020 Indiana Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards Emerging Author finalist for her first collection of poetry, Bursting At The Seams (VK Press, 2018), a Midwest Black girl coming of age story. Massey founded the literary arts organization, UnLearn Arts, radically dedicated to amplifying and cultivating the craft and wellness of BIPOC writers in the Midwest and elsewhere. Alongside performing poetry, Massey serves as board member and Community Outreach Committee member for youth poetry organization, Word As Bond and reader at Revolute Magazine. Massey is also a teaching artist for the Asante Art Institute Zora's Daughters writing program, and a Caliban Art Board Member.
Check out other writing workshops at library branches this summer and fall, and mark your calendar for our annual Meet an Author, Be an Author on October 19, 2024 at Central Library.
Take some time with the poetry of Audre Lorde and others with Black Poets You Need to Read! and this list of Diverse Poetry Collections from the Last Decade That Uses Poetic Form and Technique in a New or Interesting Way.
Made possible by The Indianapolis Foundation Library Fund through a grant to The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation.
The Broad Ripple community has enjoyed library service at various sites since 1930. The first stand-alone library opened in 1949 adjacent to School No. 80 and continued at that location until a larger branch opened in Broad Ripple Park in 1986. Facing a need for continued growth, the Glendale Branch was constructed in 2000 in Glendale Mall and became the country’s first full-service library located in a major shopping mall.
In 2024, a new 24,800 square-foot Branch located at the site of the former John Strange Elementary School opened. The move into this new space began the next chapter of service to the vibrant Glendale community.
