Regional Workshop Reading | Oakland
November 7 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (PT)
Reception at 6:30 p.m. (PT)
Oakstop Broadway; Broadway Gallery Suite
1721 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Join devorah major’s final Cave Canem Fall Workshop session, for a reading from students and major herself.
In-person registration
Virtual registration
Some poets create poems that center friends, family, or personal history. Others seem to be drawn to outward subject matter: the streets, politics, the stars, etc. Using the work of poets such as Wanda Coleman, E. Ethelbert Miller, Sonia Sanchez, Tim Siebles, Natasha Tretheway, and Oakland’s own Mahogany L. Browne, this workshop will look to create poetry which seeks a balance between the two and investigates poems that include the self without the use of “I.” The sessions are structured to include time for both writing and critiquing.
Born and raised in California, devorah major (1997) served as San Francisco’s Third Poet Laureate (2002-2006). In 2022 she received Italy’s Regina Coppola International Literary Award performing in Sardinia and Northern and Southern Italy. In 2019 her sixth book of poetry with open arms was released in a bilingual edition in Italy. A Willow Press Editor’s Choice, her seventh book of poetry, Califia’s Daughter was published by Willow Press in July 2020. In June 2015 major premiered her poetry play Classic Black: Voices of 19th Century African-Americans in San Francisco, with music composed and performed by Destiny Muhammad, at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Trade Routes, a commissioned symphony with devorah major’s spoken word and chorus, premiered under Maestro Michael Morgan with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2006. She is on two CDs as a part of Daughters of Yam with Opal Palmer Adisa. devorah major performs her work nationally and internationally with and without musicians. She has been a participant in international poetry festivals in Italy, Belgium, Bosnia, Jamaica, and Venezuela, and performed her poetry in France, the Bahamas and Germany. http://www.devorahmajor.com