READINGS

To set up a reading or speaking engagement, contact us at assitant.omotarajames@gmail.com

Brooklyn Poets Structured Book Club: Song of My Softening: Meet and greet, with book signing. Brooklyn NY, August 18. 2:30 - 3:30 PM.

Inaugural NYC Black Pride Lit Fest: in honor of James Baldwin’s 100th bday. Bessie Smith House. Harlem NY, August 17. 12-8 PM

Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series: featured poets: 
Omotara James, Willie Lee Kinard III, and Joshua Jennifer Espinoza. This virtual program is free to attend. Registration is required. 
August 15, 6pm EST.

First Saturdays x Brooklyn Museum: The Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) celebrates Caribbean literature. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, August 3, 8PM.

Poetry for the Apocalypse: NYC Launch for C. Russell Price’s oh, you thought this was a date?!: with Omotara James, Joe Osmundson, Anthony Thomas Lombardi, Robert Wood Lynn. Bureau of General Services-Queer Division, NYC, July 18, 6PM.

Weird Girls 2: featuring Khaholi Bailey, Lisa Marie Basile, Patricia Grisafi, Caroline Hagood, Omotara James, Lauren Milici. Unnamable Books, Brooklyn NY. June 26, 7PM.

Gowanustasia: Evening Celebration featuring Omotara James, Billy Cancel, Brad Vogel and Terence Degnan. Principles GI Coffee House, Brooklyn NY, June 21, 8:30 pm EST

Spring from Below: Evening Celebration presented by W.O.W. Featuring OHYUNG, Kai Naima Williams, Omotara James, Huda Asfour, Ghinwa Jawhari, Clae Lu & Mr. Lee. Chinatown, NYC, June 15, 7:30 pm EST in person

Fifth Avenue Blooms Festival presented by Van Cleef & Arpels and The Academy of American Poets, NYC, in person, May 19, 2024

KGB Monday Night Reading Series with Leah Umansky and Celia Bland at KGB Bar, Monday, April 29, 7:30 pm EST in person.

Book Discussion and signing, Book Club Bar, April 25, 2024

My Love, you are the message: Song of My Softening at Waubonsee Community College, April 23, 2024

Saturday Poetry: Brooklyn Central Library Reading, February 24, 2024

Love is Not A Luxury: Dispatches from the Field, ASDAH virtual event, February 14, 2024

Lang Craft Talks: The New School, virtual event, February 12, 2024

Poetry Reading & Table Read: Brooklyn Art Haus, December 09, 2023

Ditmas Lit: November 29, 2023

Poetry is Not a Luxury: at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 11, 2023

The Craft of Blackness: with Major Jackson and Luther Hughes, c/o CAAPP, October 19, 2023

The Nation Poetry Reading Series Presents: Maggie Smith, Charif Shanahan, and Omotara James, June 29, 2023

Association for Size Inclusivity and Health Conference 2023, June 9, 2023

The Poetry Project presents: Kemi Alabi & Omotara James, eventbrite, May 22, 2023

Launch of I Am the Most Dangerous Thing at Brooklyn Poets with readers Omotara James, Chase Berggrun, and Hafizah Augustus Geter.  May 12, 2023, 7-9 PM EST

Fordham’s Poetic Justice Institute: Reading Series, April 29, 2023 1-2 PM EST

Kweli’s 13th Anniversary Reading with Kemi Alabi & Omotara James, Crowdcast, December 3, 2022

Six Bridges Book Festival, October, 24, 2022

Brooklyn Book Festival 2022, October 2, 2022

Wo Chan + friends forTOGETHERNESS: Book Launch & After Party, September 18, 2022

Mobilize for Reproductive Justice, Zoom link, September 18, 2022

FSNZ 2022: Fat Studies Conference Poetry Reading, July 5, 2022

Commemorating Juneteenth and the Legacy of Mutual Aid, Jun 19, 2022

Coffee House Writers Project: Eloisa Amezcua & Omotara James, Zoom link. April 28, 2022

Hudson Valley Writers Center: An Evening with Douglas Kearney, Omotara James, and Cindy Veach, via Zoom, Feb 23, 2022

Book Launch: Mother/Land with Ananda Lima, Zoom link. Oct 28, 2021

Conjuring the Sacred: Poets of the Diaspora, Zoom link. Oct 28, 2021

Writers on Publishing: A Virtual Panel Discussion, Zoom link, Oct 5, 2021

Wild and Precious Life series with Dustin Brookshire, Zoom link, July21, 2021

Women Writers In Bloom reading series with JP Howard, Zoom link. June 26, 2021

The Brooklyn Rail: Radical Poetry Reading with Kyle Carrero Lopez, Zoom link. June 16, 2021

The Brooklyn Rail: Radical Poetry Reading with Pamela Sneed, Zoom link. Feb 17, 2021

Minnesota Prison Writer’s Workshop, Before Time Reading Series: Black Futures, Zoom link, Feb 26, 2021

Reality in Bloom, by Annette Covrigaru, Digital Release Party, Zoom link, Jan 19, 2021,

Office Hours LGBTQ+ Broadsides Gallery Exhibition & Reading, Zoom link, Jan 6, 2021

The Poetry Project 47th Annual New Year's Day Marathon, CrowdCast link, Jan 1, 2021

Homo for the Holigays: Already Felt Volume 1 Launch, Zoom link, Dec 18, 2020

Ekphrasis and the Body: A Workshop Reading: Participants from Ekphrasis and the Body, one of Cave Canem’s workshops this fall, will read from work developed with Omotara James, Zoom link, Dec 16, 2020

Eating is Poetic: An Hour of Visual Poetry w/ Betsy Andrews, Zoom link, Dec 13, 2020

Away Message Reading w/ Zefyr Lisowski, Zoom link, Aug 15, 2020

Emily Dickinson Museum: Amherst Arts Night Poetry Reading, Zoom link, Aug 6, 2020

Book Party for Su Hwang’s BODEGA, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, November 19, 2019

PEN America Lit Crawl NYC 2019: femme noire + queer | a radical imagining, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, Oct 12, 2019

The Poets Settlement, Halyards Bar, Brooklyn, Sept 12, 2019

First Friday at The Bronx Museum: The Life and Times of Alvin Baltrop, Bronx, Sept 6, 2019

Soul Sister Revue, VON Bar, NYC, Aug 26, 2019

Bread Loaf Conference: The 10th Annual Dark Tower Reading, Middlebury, Aug 23, 2019

Greetings, From Queer Mountain, Housing Works, NYC, July 23, 2019

Office Hours Poetry Series, featuring Candace Williams, Bureau for General Services Queer Division, NYC, May 18, 2019

New York University Creative Writing Program Thesis Reading, NYC, May 17, 2019

Discovery Poetry Contest Winners’ Reading, 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center, May 16, 2019

Cave Canem Foundation and Lambda Literary presents: PARTY FOR THE PEOPLE, Amarachi, Brooklyn, March 14, 2019

EMPIRE READS reading series, NYC, February 15, 2019

Pete’s Big Salmon Poetry Series, Pete’s Candy Store, January 11, 2019

The Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading, The Poetry Project, January 1, 2019

WRECKstasy, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC, Nov 17, 2018

Cave Canem Presents SOUL OF A NATION at Brooklyn Museum, NYC, Nov 3, 2018

Pride Reading: curated by Melissa Febos, Bluestockings Activist Cafe, NYC, June 26, 2018

Brackish, NYC, June 21, 2018

QT: Rainbows Across the Diaspora, Dixon Place, NYC, May 22, 2018

Picasso Machinery, NYC, May 18, 2018

No, Dear *States* Launch Reading, LA SALA at Cantina Royal, May 11, 2018

The Rally Reading Series, Pete’s Candy Store, May 3, 2018

Launch Reading for Laura Buccieri’s On Being Mistaken, Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop,April 18, 2018

Pen America: World Voices Festival | CLMP Press Fest, Washington Mews, NYC, April 20, 2018

MIXER Series, Our Wicked Lady, NYC, April 18, 2018

NYC | Sunday Salon, Von, NYC, April 15, 2018

At The Inkwell NYC Poetry, KGB Bar & Lit Mag, NYC, April 11, 2018

The Future of Queens Poetry 2018: a Benefit for Newtown Literary Alliance, Queens NYC, March 18, 2018

Hostos Community College Reading Series, Bronx NY, March 13, 2018

Sinister Wisdom 107: We Are the Revolution, Leslie- Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, February 27, 2018

Paperback Launch for Abandon Me, by Melissa Febos, Books Are Magic, February 16, 2018

Launch Party for Candace Williams' Spells for Black Wizards, Ace Hotel New York, February 5, 2018

American Chordata, Issue 6 Launch Reading, Housing Works Bookstore, February 1, 2018

The Voices of #MeToo, Spoonbill Books, Brooklyn, January 24, 2018

The 44th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading, The Poetry Project, January 1, 2018

Love Within Love Anthology Launch, Spoonbill & Sugartown, Brooklyn, Dec 11, 2017

Cooper Wilhelm presents Dumbheart/Stupidface, WORD Brooklyn, Dec 2, 2017

XXO Reading ft. DJ Ashtray and All His Friends, BGSQD, NYC, Oct 13, 2017

Poetry 99 - Monthly Poetry Reading Series, Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers, Brooklyn Sept 11, 2017

Cool As F*** Reading Series, Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn Aug 22, 2017

The Other Side of Violet Anthology Release Party, Great Weather for Media, NYC Aug 17, 2017

In This Body: with Say Yes Electric Collective & Seventh Wave, Dixon Place Brooklyn, Aug 15, 2017

2017 Lambda Literary Writer's Retreat Reading Series, West Hollywood Library, WEHO Aug 9, 2017

Honeysuckle Magazine: HERS issue Launch, Norwood Club NYC, July 26, 2017

Newton Literary: Issue 10 Launch Reading, Socrates Sculpture Park, June 25, 2017

Open Studio 2017: SOMA Artists Studio Tour with Ananda Lima, Maplewood NJ June 4, 2017

Lamprohonic: Emerging Writers Series, Bar Thalia, NYC June 2, 2017

The Recluse #13 Launch Party, The Poetry Project, St Mark's Church, NYC May 24, 2017

Writing Across Cultures: A Reading at Cave Canem with Joseph O. Legaspi, Brooklyn May 2, 2017

Poetic Queens with Newton Literary, Queens Library at Sunnyside branch, Queens April 8, 2017

COUPLET - a Quarterly Reading Series & Social, The Delancey, NYC April 21, 2017

The Poetry Project, St Mark's Church, NYC, Feb 1, 2017

Say Yes Electric Collective, Three's Brewing, Brooklyn Jan 21, 2017

Poetry Conversations: A Reading at Cave Canem with Camille Rankine, Brooklyn Nov 14, 2016