The Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading features emerging and innovative poets. This event is presented annually as part of the Poetry Center’s Reading and Lecture Series, and is named after poet and publisher Morgan Lucas Schuldt (2/11/1978–1/30/2012).
This year, we are proud to present Yona Harvey and Craig Santos Perez, who will read from their work. After the reading, there will be a short Q&A and a book signing.
Yona Harvey is the author of the poetry collection, Hemming the Water, winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award from Claremont Graduate University. Her work has been published and anthologized in many places including Callaloo, jubilat, The Volta, and A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry (ed. Annie Finch). Her work has also been commissioned by poet and visual artist Vanessa German as part of German’s museum installation “It’s Out of My Hands,” 21st Century Juju: New Magic, Soul Gadgets, and Reckoning.” Harvey also created a audio poem for visual artist Casey Droege’s Six x Ate project (MOCA Cleveland). She directed the Creative Writing Program at Carnegie Mellon University before coming to The University of Pittsburgh where she is currently an assistant professor in the Writing Program. She lives with her family in the Pittsburgh neighborhood not far from where jazz composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams grew up. Her website is yonaharvey.com.
Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam). He is the co-founder of Ala Press, co-star of the poetry album Undercurrent (Hawai’i Dub Machine, 2011), and author of three collections of poetry, the most recent being from unincorporated territory [guma'] (Omnidawn, 2014). He has been a finalist for the LA Times 2010 Book Prize for Poetry and the winner of the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa, where he teaches Pacific literature and creative writing.