Join Daniel B. Summerhill for “Praying for Rain, A Centennial Celebration of James Baldwin”. The inaugural Poet Laureate of Monterey County, Summerhill is a writer, scholar and Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University. He is the author of two collections of poems, Divine, Divine, Divine and Mausoleum of Flowers.

“Praying for Rain” is a phrase that comes from Nikky Finney’s introduction to Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems. Finney got the quote from listening to Baldwin’s 1961 interview with Studs Terkel who asks Jimmy, “who are you now.” Baldwin responds, “who indeed? I may be able to tell you who I am, but I am also discovering who I am not. I want to be an honest man. And I want to be a good writer. I don’t know if one ever gets to be what one wants to be. You just have to play it by ear, and pray for rain.” In writing about the peril of artists, James Baldwin said in order to face oneself, one should “vomit up the anguish.” Through original work, Daniel B. Summerhill will converse with the late James Baldwin, his mind, his legacy and his poetic works, in an attempt to “Vomit Up the Anguish.”

Daniel B. Summerhill is a writer, scholar and Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University. Summerhill has earned fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts, Esperimento sul Respiro, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and The Watering Hole. His poems and essays have been published widely, including in venues such as The Academy of American Poets, Columbia Journal, Callaloo, Ploughshares, Obsidian, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. A two-time Pushcart and Best of the Net Nominee, he was invited by the U.S. embassy to guest lecture and perform in Durban, South Africa in 2018 as a part of the International Poetry Africa Festival. Daniel believes in the liberation of oppressed peoples everywhere, especially through the dissolution of empire.

For more information, visit the library, phone (831) 648-5762 or email referencedesk@cityofpacificgrove.org.

Free.

Sponsored by Pacific Grove Public Library Friends and Foundation, the Whitney Latham-Lechich Poetry Trust and Monterey County Gives! 2024 donors.

Photo credit: Marcus Jackson