Sherley Anne Williams Writing Residency with aracelis girmay

Co-sponsored by BSP and the New Writing Series 

Join BSP and the New Writing Series in welcoming aracelis girmay to UCSD's campus. aracelis girmay's visit marks the second run of the Sherley Anne Williams Writing Residency. The residency was named in honor of the late UCSD professor and internationally acclaimed poet/novelist Sherley Anne Williams (1944-1999), who authored, among a number of publications, the novel Dessa Rose and a book of poems titled The Peacock Poems.

aracelis girmay is a poet who makes works across genres. She is the author of the poetry collections the black maria (BOA, 2016), Kingdom Animalia (BOA, 2011), and Teeth (Curbstone, 2007). For this work she was a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Her books have also been named finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Connecticut Book Award. She has received fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, Civitella Ranieri, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Cave Canem Foundation, among others. Girmay is the author of the chapbook, and was a flower, made in collaboration with book artist Valentina Améstica and published in 2024. Other work includes picture book collaborations, most recently with artist Diana Ejaita entitled Kamau and Zuzu Find A Way (Enchanted Lion Books). Recent works (poetry and prose) have been published or are forthcoming in Astra, The Paris Review online, Periphery Journal, Jewish Currents, The New York Times Magazine, and e-flux.

girmay is the editor of How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton (BOA, 2020) and So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth (Haymarket Books, 2023). She is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund and is in her last year as the editor-at-large of the Blessing the Boats Selections (BOA Editions). girmay is currently completing an experiment for the stage commissioned by the Authors Guild. Her new poetry collection, GREEN OF ALL HEADS, is slated for publication in the fall.

Come and join this celebration of poetic writing this winter 2025.  

March 11 | Sherley Anne Williams Craft Talk | 12:00-2:00PM (PST) | PEB 201

March 12 | Sherley Anne Williams Luncheon | 12:00-2:00PM (PST) | PEB 721

March 12 | Sherley Anne Williams & New Writing Series 2025 Public Reading |5:00-6:30PM (PST) | Seuss Room Geisel Library

Free Events | Please RSVP by March 8 at bit.ly/sawresidency2025