Jazz Poetry 2024 welcomes some of the most incredible talents the Alphabet City stage has ever seen, including Fatimah Asghar, a South-Asian American Muslim writer with National Book Award and Emmy nominations; Deaf poet, storyteller and founder of ASL NYC Jeremy Lee Stone; Sudanese activist and City of Asylum writer-in-residence Rania Mamoun; and celebrated Argentinian poet and novelist Andrés Neuman, traveling all the way from Spain. Setting the tone for this third night of Jazz Poetry is acclaimed violinist Leslie DeShazor, who will make her debut at City of Asylum with an exciting quintet.

Each Jazz Poetry program begins with a 40-minute performance by the band, followed by 30 minutes of collaborative performance with the featured poets. In these collaborations, poets share their work while the musicians interpret and accompany their poetry with jazz, adding a unique, improvisational dimension to each performance.

ASL interpretation will be provided by Heather Gray and Josh Stresing.

Featured Musicians:

• Leslie DeShazor: viola/violin
• Rob Skinner: bass
• Demetrius Nabors: keys
• Nate Winn: drums
• Sasha Kashperko: guitar