Note: Free tickets are available for the economically-distressed.
Join the Poets’ Playground Collective for a workshop exploring how we find solace, inspiration, and refuge in poetic lineage. Listen to the works of revolutionary poets and use their words to write poems of your own with the option to share at the end.
Featuring a special reading by local award-winning artist, poet, playwright, performer, educator, cultural organizer Dasan Ahanu.
To participate, bring a poem that inspires you and a new or used book to donate to Prison Book Collective (No Hardcover, spiral-bound, or marked-in books). Book donors are automatically entered for a chance to win a free chapbook from our indie book market.
About the reader:
Dasan is an award-winning poet and performance artist, public speaker, community organizer, educator, scholar and emcee born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is an Alumni Nasir Jones Fellow at Harvard’s Hip Hop Archive and Research Institute, resident artist at the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation/Hayti Heritage Center, and visiting lecturer at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He has performed across the country, appeared on national radio and TV, published three books of poetry, been featured in various periodicals and released numerous recordings. He works with organizations and institutions to develop effective arts strategies to enhance their work in the community. Dasan is currently managing a grant funded initiative as the Rothwell Mellon Program Director for Creative Futures with Carolina Performing Arts. He swings a mean pen and represents the SOUTH.
About the hosts:
A writer living in Durham, NC, Angelica has published work in over 50 literary journals with forthcoming work in The Round, Meetinghouse Magazine, JMWW, Folio Literary Journal, RHINO, and Poetry South, among others. She is the author of the chapbook, The World Is Ending, Say Something That Will Last (Bottle Cap Press, 2022) and the micro-chap, Digital (R)age (Ghost City Press, 2025). Besides being a devastated poet, Angelica is a Marketing Content Writer for a clean energy loan company. She holds pollinators, legumes, and her eight-pound Yorkiepoo in the highest regard. You can find more of her work on Instagram at a.w.ords and on her website: angelicawhitehorne.com
Antino humbly serves as the Co-Director of Poets’ Playground at Boxyard RTP. He writes ad copy to feed his daughter and poetry to feed his spirit. Based in Raleigh by way of South Florida and the Philippines, he’s performed at over 500 venues, and his words are probably on a billboard somewhere. He’s been called a magician with words. For more, antinoart.com
Homecoming is a community-led poetry jam that brings the voices of artists, organizers, and advocates under one roof. Check out the full event agenda here.
Hosted by Angelica Whitehorne x Antino Art
Ages 16+. All proceeds support local artists and changemakers.
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