Poetry and the Archives of History with Paisley Rekdal

From The Bay Area Book Festival: 

“In this session, we’ll hear from those who instead look at archives and envision poetry. In West: A Translation, poet Paisley Rekdal vividly documents how the heroic narrative of the transcontinental railroad is intertwined with the history of Chinese exclusion. We’ll also hear from poet Anthony Cody whose collection Borderland Apocrypha, longlisted for PEN America’s Jean Stein Book Award, blends centers on the ongoing legacy of trauma along the US–Mexico border after the end of the Mexican–American War.  

Leading this conversation through past and present is poet Tess Taylor, whose own Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange collages Lange’s photographs and journals with Taylor’s poetry.”

This event will take place Saturday May 6th from 1:00–2:00pm PDT and is free to the public.