#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: Reasons for Smoking by Xandria Phillips

Come celebrate the release of the new chapbook, Reasons for Smoking, by poet Xandria Phillips on January 19, 2018, 7:30 p.m., at Women & Children First in Chicago, IL. Reasons for Smoking is the winner of the the Seattle Review’s 2016 Chapbook contest, which was judged by Claudia Rankine. Rankine said of Phillips’ work, “The poems in Reasons for Smoking articulate how living, touching, noticing, speaking, and remembering are necessary and subversive acts.” For this event, Xandria will be joined by Chekwube Danladi.
 
Xandria Phillips is a poet who hails from rural Ohio but currently lives in Chicago. Xandria received her BA from Oberlin College, where she studied creative writing and Africana Studies. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem and Callaloo. Xandria’s poetry is present or forthcoming in Callaloo, Transition, Nepantla, and elsewhere.
 
Chekwube O. Danladi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Washington DC and West Baltimore. Their chapbook, Take Me Back, was recently included as part of the New-Generation African Poets: Nne. They have received support from Callaloo, Kimbilio, the Vermont Studio Center, and Hedgebrook, and their work has been nominated for a Pushcart. They are currently at work on a novel about queers living in Abuja, Nigeria. They live in Urbana, Illinois.
 
 

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