On Sunday, May 4th, First Light will be hosting an evening of poetry in celebration of the release of Lauren k. Watel's debut collection of poetry, BOOK OF POTIONS. Lauren will be joined by Naomi Shihab Nye for a conversation and reading.

Tickets for this event include a copy of BOOK OF POTIONS, as well as a reserved seat inside. All unreserved seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Free RSVPs are also available for those who want to get updates about this event.

Selected by Ilya Kaminsky as the winner of the 2023 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry, BOOK OF POTIONS is a collection of prose poems by turns fabulist, surreal, vengeful, and vivid, each illuminating a facet of contemporary femininity and womanhood.

Lauren k. Watel is a poet, fiction writer, essayist and translator. Book of Potions, winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry from Sarabande Books, is her first book. Her work has appeared widely in journals such as The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books and The Nation. Her work has also won awards from Poets & Writers, Writer’s Digest, Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation and Mississippi Review. Her prose poem honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was set to music by Pulitzer-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and the piece premiered at the Dallas Symphony. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, she lives in Decatur, Georgia.

Naomi Shihab Nye is an Arab American poet, editor, songwriter, and novelist. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she began composing her first poetry at the age of six. In total, she has published or contributed to over 30 volumes of poetry.

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