Since 1985, Bryn Mawr College has hosted writers of a variety of genres as part of the Creative Writing Reading Series. While visiting Bryn Mawr, the writers present free public readings and often engage with Bryn Mawr Creative Writing students as guests in their classes. This February, Bryn Mawr hosted three writers: Kimiko Hahn, Dantiel W. Moniz and Taylor Johnson.
Kimiko Hahn
Bryn Mawr College hosted poet Kimiko Hahn as part of its Creative Writing Reading Series on the evening of Feb. 5. Currently a distinguished professor of Creative Writing & Literary Translation at Queens College, The City University of New York, Hahn has published ten collections of poetry.
The night began with an introduction delivered by Dee Matthews, Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Bryn Mawr’s Creative Writing department. She discussed the different themes that Hahn has explored in her writing, including her mixed Japanese-German identity and the influence of the New York Times science section writing on her poetry. Matthews praised her work, saying, “You can’t meet Kimiko and not be taken aback by her brilliance.”
After Matthews’ brief introduction, Hahn began by reciting a poem that she had “been trying to write her whole life.” Called “The Ashes,” the poem flashes from scene to scene, each an image of family life conveyed by a five-line stanza. The final stanza answers the question posed in the first stanza: “What do her ashes know?” listing bits of wisdom the Mother’s ashes have acquired throughout her life.
Her next poem, “if is a conjunction,” which incorporates lines from Lucille Clifton’s “poem in praise of menstruation,” addresses the complex emotions that accompany the menstrual cycle and its ties to the natural world. In line with her latest collection of poetry, much of Hahn’s reading comprised poems that experiment with form. “The Earth’s Day” is a whimsical pantoum that examines the interconnectedness that binds together the Earth and all those who inhabit it.
After Hahn had read ten poems, there was time for audience members to ask questions. One person asked, “When do you know that a poem is done?” After a pause, Hahn answered, “I’m not really sure I know when a poem is absolutely finished,” but concluded that she stops working on a piece “when [she has] taken it as far as [she] can.” After answering a few more questions, the night ended with a brief book signing. The crowd dispersed slowly, lingering to chat with one another after a meditative poetry reading.
Dantiel W. Moniz and Taylor Johnson
Dantiel W. Moniz and Taylor Johnson, both first-time authors, read on the evening of Feb. 26. The event was framed around helping young writers bridge the distance from the undergraduate classroom to professional spaces, a jump that Moniz and Johnson have navigated themselves.
Moniz published Milk Bood Heat, a novel which depicts the intimate inner worlds of several Floridians experiencing intense struggles, in 2021. Johnson’s debut collection of poetry, Inheritance, was published in 2020 and includes contemplations on themes of gender and race, conveying personal musings through poetic form.
Moniz, currently a professor of Fiction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, read from a new manuscript, which she shared was a draft of a new novel she is working on. Johnson, Poet Laureate of Takoma Park, Maryland, read from Inheritance as well as new unpublished works.
During the question and answer panel, facilitated by Creative Writing Professor Sanam Sheriff, both authors spoke about the value of engaging in creativity and curiosity over one’s lifetime. Moniz and Johnsin emphasized the importance of finding agents who listen to your long term vision and relayed the stories of their manuscript submissions. As a whole, the evening centered the writer’s process, from artistic visions, to the technicalities of publishing, to the beauty of the final product.
