This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo’s twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music. How We Became Human explores its title question in poems of sustaining grace.
This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo’s twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music. How We Became Human explores its title question in poems of sustaining grace.
Guest performer: Jennifer Kreisberg
Mother, Singer, Composer, Producer, Teacher, and Activist – Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies. Jennifer has been singing since she was a child. When she was seventeen, she joined the critically acclaimed Native women’s Trio ULALI. Her voice perfectly wove the high strand of Ulali’s renowned harmony with incomparable skill and grace for over twenty years. Together, they created a new sound in Indian Country.
Facilitator: Leslie Caromile
Leslie Caromile, PhD is an assistant professor at UConn Health in the Center for Vascular Biology, Department of Cell Biology where she is a cancer biologist, a mentor and a community advocate that is working to discover more effective ways of detecting and treating prostate cancer. She was born in Hartford and grew up in East Hartford. She is of Eastern Band Cherokee heritage.
Hartford Public Library and Hartford Stage invite the community to a new book club, called “Deep Appreciation,” a heart-led gathering featuring live readings, interactive dialogue and reflections on fiction and poetry by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) authors, past and present.
The book club will meet quarterly to discuss the selection with teens and adults, as well as provide a family friendly book pairing for those who wish to continue the conversation at home. Everyone is welcome. To register, click the button below or call 860-695-6320.
“Among the many values Hartford Stage and Hartford Public Library share is empathy. We believe that cultivating understanding between people, and then acting on what is learned, is a fundamental good. That’s why this book club project is exciting to me – it’s an opportunity for people to engage with great literature with an open heart and an open mind.”
–Bridget Quinn-Carey, HPL’s president and CEO.
Purchase your books ahead of time for The Book Club directly on Amazon through AmazonSmile and donate 0.5% of your purchase directly to Hartford Stage. You can use your current Amazon.com account through AmazonSmile. Your account settings all remain the same. On your first visit to AmazonSmile, you will need to select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. Simply enter “Hartford Stage” in the search field, then choose select. Amazon will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make through AmazonSmile will result in a donation for Hartford Stage. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. The purchase price is the amount paid for the item – minus any rebates and excluding shipping & handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes or service charges. Donations are made directly by the AmazonSmile Foundation and are not tax deductible.