Performance: New Poetry Books: Bay Area Poets Read from Recent Publications

San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck invites poets Dena Rod, Taneesh Kaur and Mahnaz Badihian to read from their recent works.

Kim Shuck was San Francisco’s seventh Poet Laureate. Her poetry draws on her multiethnic background which includes Polish and Cherokee heritage, and her experiences as a lifelong resident of San Francisco. Her most recent book of poetry, What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, a collaboration with visual artist LisaRuth Elliott, and her new book of essays, Noodle, Rant, Tangent, were published in 2022. In her term as Poet Laureate, she hosted scores of free poetry and art workshops for all ages at neighborhood libraries and schools and worked closely with San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Arts Commission to launch major citywide initiatives to honor Native American Indigenous Peoples' heritage.

Dena Rod is a non-binary poet and essayist whose debut poetry collection Scattered Arils is now in its fourth print run from Milk and Cake Press. Described by The Bold Italic as a “verbose advocate,” they are currently at work on their first novel.

Taneesh Kaur is a US-born Punjabi teaching artist based in San Francisco. She has an MA in linguistics from SFSU and is currently an MFA student in Writing at the University of San Francisco. Her debut full-length collection, Thawing: A Poetic Memoir, is forthcoming from Collapse Press.

Mahnaz Badihian is an Iranian American poet, painter and translator. She runs the literary magazine MahMag, which brings the poetry of the world together. Badihian finished the translation of a book, Spalding Arise, with Jack Hirschman in 2014 and received her MFA in poetry from Pacific University. She is working on her latest novel, Gohar. Badihian’s recent collection of poems, Ask the Wind was published in 2022. Currently, she is an acting member of the World Festival of poetry and travels to different world poetry events in India, Chile, Cuba, Italy, England, Bolivia, Peru and elsewhere.

Connect:

Dena Rod - Website

Taneesh Kaur - Website | Instagram