National Poetry Month: Stegner Fellows VIRTUAL Reading

Join us for a special VIRTUAL Ruby gathering in honor of National Poetry Month featuring readings by Monica Sok, Safia Elfhillo, Claire Meuschke, and Taneum Bambrick; all current Stegner fellows at Stanford University.

[This is a Virtual Ruby event, taking place over Zoom. Join us: https://zoom.us/j/285830870?pwd=VU00MlhjZ3VTQVBLZi9Ta3R2TmVSdz09 Password will be sent with registration. Nonmembers are welcome to join; please donate if you are able!]

About the poets:

Monica Sok is a Cambodian American poet and the daughter of former refugees. She is the author of A Nail the Evening Hangs On (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). Her work has been recognized with a “Discovery” Prize from 92Y. She has received fellowships from Poetry Society of America, Hedgebrook, Elizabeth George Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Kundiman, Jerome Foundation, MacDowell Colony, and others. Sok has taught poetry to Southeast Asian youths at Banteay Srei and the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants in Oakland. She is originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Safia Elhillo is the author of The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), which received the the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and an Arab American Book Award, and Girls That Never Die (One World/Random House 2021), as well as a novel in verse forthcoming in 2021 from Make Me A World/Random House. A co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket Books, 2019), Elhillo was listed in Forbes Africa’s 2018 “30 Under 30” and is a 2019-2021 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

Claire Meuschke is the author of Upend (Noemi Press, 2020). From the Bay Area, she has lived in New York City, New Mexico, and Arizona. She is poetry editor for Contra Viento and assistant poetry editor for DIAGRAM. She is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and lives in Oakland.

Taneum Bambrick is the author of VANTAGE, which was selected by Sharon Olds for the 2019 American Poetry Review/Honickman first book award (Copper Canyon Press). Her chapbook, Reservoir, was selected by Ocean Vuong for the 2017 Yemassee Chapbook Prize. Her poems and essays appear or are forthcoming in theNew Yorker, The American Poetry Review,PENAmerica, and elsewhere. She is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

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*While we shelter in place during the Covid19 pandemic, The Ruby’s physical location will be closed. As a collective, we’ll continue to gather online for virtual workshops, events, and discussions. All are welcome to join us for these events. * For those who can afford it and would like to support The Ruby during this uncertain time, we are offering 3 tiers of virtual membership: $5/week, $15/week, and $25/week. (Though we have some money in our emergency savings account to get us through the next little while, we’re pretty nervous about the future, and how long this might go on for.) Please help only if it’s feasible for you. If you’re in a tough time financially right now, we absolutely get it. Please, take care of yourself and stay connected to this community so we can help.

Here are the tiers of virtual membership (use these links to sign up):
$5/week – https://www.joinit.org/o/the-ruby/aRsJyABygL4FvvEJT
$15/week – https://www.joinit.org/o/the-ruby/o56ggrnNNx9rzn6AA
$25/week – https://www.joinit.org/o/the-ruby/q37HfmWSQMoLzPt4p

Want to make a one-time donation of more or less? We can still accept donations through last year’s GoFundMe. Link is here.

Our Virtual Ruby calendar will be updated as events are added.

Image, pictured from left to right: Monica Sok (photo credit Andria Lo), Taneum Bambrick, Safia Elhillo (photo credit Aris Theotokatos), and Claire Meuschke.