We are thrilled to celebrate Praisesong for the People, edited by Amanda Johnston! Join us for a celebratory afternoon, which will feature poetry readings by anthology contributors and Amanda Johnston.

“We turn to poetry in our greatest moments of joy and sorrow to help us tune in to our emotions and connect with others,” writes Johnston. In Praisesong for the People, poetry brings us together to celebrate the people across the state who make this land feel like home.

Edited by Amanda Johnston, the 61st Texas Poet Laureate and first Black woman to receive this honor, this vibrant anthology collects the work of 70 emerging and established poets across the state. Commissioned to write original poems celebrating everyday people, the poets in Praisesong for the People: Poems from the Heart and Soul of Texas are as diverse as the landscapes they inhabit, and reflect the intersecting identities of Texas’s population across age, gender, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disability, and immigrant communities. In these poems, their voices gather in a heartfelt chorus to praise the people in their communities who offer small kindnesses, asking nothing in return.

Free & open to all lovers of literature.

Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, the 61st Texas Poet Laureate, and founder of Torch Literary Arts. Johnston is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, including Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (Northwestern University Press, 2019), edited by Lauren K. Alleyne. She is a former board president of the Cave Canem Foundation and the founder and executive director of Torch Literary Arts. In 2024, Johnston was appointed the poet laureate of Texas. In the same year, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Guest Readers:

Logen Cure is a queer poet and educator. She curates Inner Moonlight, the monthly reading series and podcast at The Wild Detectives in Dallas. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her debut full-length poetry collection, Welcome to Midland (Deep Vellum Publishing 2021), was shortlisted for the Reading the West Book Awards. Learn more at www.logencure.com.

Mag Gabbert’s debut full-length poetry collection, SEX DEPRESSION ANIMALS, won the Charles B. Wheeler Prize and the Writer’s League of Texas Book Award in Poetry. She is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a 92NY Discovery Award. Mag teaches at Southern Methodist University and currently serves as the Poet Laureate of Dallas, Texas.

Sebastian Páramo lives in Dallas and is the son of Mexican immigrants. He is the author of Portrait of Us Burning (Curbstone Books, 2023), a finalist for the 2023 Best First Book of Poetry by the Texas Institute of Letters. He is the founding editor of The Boiler and is Assistant Editor at Texas Review Press.

April Sojourner Truth Walker, PMP is a Dallas native who studied at Emory University and Hollins University. She is the President of the writing coaching company – A Little More Truth, LLC. Currently she is working on a manuscript exploring the role of women in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and how these historically man-made roles manifest in women’s lives today.

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