One of the high points of the Conference for me was the appearance of so many hip-hop performers/poets as guests (great idea, Kim). As a Shakespearean by trade, Tyehimba Jess' "syncopated sonnets" (interlocking duets that can be read separately or together; also forwards and backwards, as well as diagonally) blew my mind. As did Toni Blackman's Freestyling improv in rhymed couplets--in which, among other things, she riffed off folks in the audience's nametags.
Michael C, Catherine C, and Brett: it was an honor to be on the First Books Panel with you. And a great pleasure to meet Alex and so many other wonderful Sphereans, as well as to reconnect with old friends.
Andrew
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