Join us for a celebration of two new books and a shared life in poetry featuring Elaine Equi and Jerome Sala. A beloved New School poetry professor for many years, Elaine Equi is the author of more than ten books of poems. Equi’s Out of the Blank from Coffee House Press showcases her trademark brevity and finesse. Dream logic and a particular, understated, idiosyncratic wit wash together in these poems with a painterly use of color and texture. According to critic Ben Shields in Artforum, the “generousness of an Equi poem lets you take for granted its offhand grandeur.” Combining pop culture, humor, and irony, Equi’s poems are both direct and nuanced. Jerome Sala, poet, critic, freelance copywriter, and content developer, has cultivated the kind of insider/outsider status that grants access to the parts of the American psyche he most wants to satirize. Sala’s new book of poems from BlazeVOX, Glop, enlivens language that contemporary capitalism has left for dead. He illuminates the fundamental soulfulness of paying attention to what we encounter moment-to-moment, even the “nastyass” honey badgers we see on YouTube while being stalked by targeted advertising. Having established a life together as poets, the pair will also discuss their experience prioritizing creativity and writing. Hosted by Laura Cronk, assistant professor and chair of poetry, MFA in Creative Writing at The New School.
Elaine Equi’s latest book is Out of the Blank from Coffee House Press. Her other books include Voice-Over, which won the San Francisco State Poetry Award; Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems, which was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award and on the short list for the Griffin Poetry Prize; and Sentences and Rain. Widely published and anthologized, her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Brooklyn Rail, Big Other, The Nation, The New Yorker, and many other journals. In 2023, she was the guest editor of the annual anthology, Best American Poetry. In 2024, she received a Guggenheim fellowship. She has taught in many creative writing programs, including those at New York University, City College of New York, and The New School. She lives in New York with her husband, the poet Jerome Sala.
Jerome Sala’s latest book of poems is Glop, just out from BlazeVOX. Other collections
include cult classics such as I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent, The Trip, Raw Deal, Look
Slimmer Instantly, The Cheapskates, Corporations Are People, Too!, How Much? New
and Selected Poems, Prom Night (a chapbook collaboration with artist Tamara
Gonzales) and Double Feature (a chapbook collaboration with poet Elaine Equi). His
poetry and criticism have appeared in The Nation, Evergreen Review, Rolling Stone,
Pleiades, Conjunctions, Boundary 2, The Brooklyn Rail, and many others. His work has
also been anthologized in Pathetic Literature and several editions of The Best American
Poetry series. Before moving to New York City in the 80s, Sala and his spouse, poet
Elaine Equi did numerous readings together in Chicago, helping to create the city’s
lively performance poetry scene. He has worked as a copywriter and creative director
and has a PhD in American Studies from New York University.
Presented by Creative Writing at New School for Social Research and The New School.
Jerome Sala’s latest book of poems is Glop, just out from BlazeVOX. Other collections include cult classics such as I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent, The Trip, Raw Deal, Look Slimmer Instantly, The Cheapskates, Corporations Are People, Too!, How Much? New and Selected Poems, Prom Night (a chapbook collaboration with artist Tamara Gonzales) and Double Feature (a chapbook collaboration with poet Elaine Equi).
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Elaine Equi’s latest book is Out of the Blank from Coffee House Press. Her other books include Voice-Over, which won the San Francisco State Poetry Award; Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems, which was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award and on the short list for the Griffin Poetry Prize; and Sentences and Rain. Widely published and anthologized, her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Brooklyn Rail, Big Other, The Nation, The New Yorker, and many other journals. In 2023, she was the guest editor of the annual anthology, Best American Poetry. In 2024, she received a Guggenheim fellowship. She has taught in many creative writing programs including those at New York University, City College of New York, and The New School. She lives in New York with her husband, the poet Jerome Sala.
Jerome Sala’s latest book of poems is Glop, just out from BlazeVOX. Other collections include cult classics such as I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent, The Trip, Raw Deal, Look Slimmer Instantly, The Cheapskates, Corporations Are People, Too!, How Much? New and Selected Poems, Prom Night (a chapbook collaboration with artist Tamara Gonzales), and Double Feature (a chapbook collaboration with poet Elaine Equi). His poetry and criticism have appeared in The Nation, Evergreen Review, Rolling Stone, Pleiades, Conjunctions, Boundary 2, The Brooklyn Rail, and many others. His work has also been anthologized in Pathetic Literature and several editions of The Best American Poetry series. Before moving to New York city in the 80s, Sala and his spouse, poet Elaine Equi, did numerous readings together in Chicago, helping to create the city’s lively performance poetry scene. He has worked as a copywriter and creative director and has a PhD in American Studies from New York University.
