Send us a text

This episode features our conversation with Dorsía Smith Silva, which was live-streamed on October 19, 2025. We chatted about her debut poetry collection, In Inheritance of Drowning (CavanKerry Press, 2024).

In this striking debut, Dorsía Smith Silva explores the devastating effects of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico, highlighting the natural world, the lasting impact of hurricanes, and the marginalization of Puerto Ricans. These poems also focus on the multiple sites of oppression in the United States, especially the racial, social, and political injustices that occur every day. Smith Silva writes with a powerful, gripping voice, confronting the “drowning” of disenfranchised communities as they are displaced, exploited, and robbed of their identities, but remain resilient. Written with unflinching language and vivid imagery, In Inheritance of Drowning reveals the many facets of the lives of marginalized people.

To learn more about Dorsía and her work, please visit her website at dorsiasmithsilva.com.

Purchase your copy of In Inheritance of Drowning TODAY by clicking here.

Here's the list of Caribbean authors mentioned during the interview (information on each writer is hyperlinked in their names): Velma Pollard, Shara McCallum, Dionne Brand, Lorna Goodison, M. NourbeSe Philip, and V. S. Naipaul.

FInd Dorsía on Instagram: @dsmithsilva

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon

.

Support the show

Send us a text

This episode features our conversation with Tiriq Rashad, which was live-streamed on October 17, 2025 as a part of our National Black Poetry Day marathon. We chatted about his recently released spoken word album, Kiss My Art.

Tiriq Rashad, a proud native of “Atlantic-Ville” (Atlantic City and Pleasantville), blends his social work background with a gift for storytelling to create work rooted in resilience, authenticity, and healing. Author of A Diamond In God’s Dirt and shine through our shade: an evolution of self-love, his writing has earned praise from readers and icons like Nikki Giovanni for its powerful reflection of both universal and Black experiences.

Kiss My Art, which was released on October 17, 2025, is a soul-baring journey through grief, identity, and creative liberation. Merging spoken word with jazz and hip-hop, the album unfolds like a living memoir.

Purchase Kiss My Art, directly on Bandcamp.

Check out Nicole's spoken word album, IN/Put: Live from the Valley on Apple Music or Amazon Music

Find Tiriq Rashad on Instagram: @tiriq_rashad

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon

Support the show

Send us a text

This episode features our conversation with Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton, which was live-streamed on October 17, 2025 as a part of our National Black Poetry Day marathon.

Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award-winning poet, educator, Pushcart Prize nominee, and publisher. Lofton is the author of more than thirty-five collections of poetry and more than one-hundred and seventy spoken word albums. His poems have appeared in Clock House Journal, Revenge, UpStreet, Experience Reality Magazine, Quay, Dissident Voice, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Mid-Atlantic Review, and Blue-Collar Review. He earned both a B.A. in Creative Writing and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. He has held teaching positions at Chesapeake Bay Academy, Norfolk State University, and Elizabeth City State University.

To learn more about Synnika and his work, please visit www.iamsynnika.com.

Special thanks to Dr. Khadijah Ali-Coleman (featured on Season Five, Episode Four) and Black Writers for Peace and Social Justice for introducing us to Synnika.

Find Synnika on Instagram: @i_am_synnika

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon

Support the show