In November of 1781, 133 Africans were murdered over a 10-day period aboard the slave ship “Zong.” M. NourbeSe Philip’s book length poem “Zong!” is a response to this seldom discussed tragedy.

PEN/Nabokov award winner M. NourbeSe Philip’s will read from “Zong!” and other works Thursday, April 14 at 5 p.m. in the Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium in Klarman Hall. The April 14 reading will be open to in-person attendance for members of the Cornell community (with Cornell ID cards). Members of the public can livestream the reading. The event is part of the Spring 2022 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series for the Creative Writing Program in the Department of Literatures in English in the College of Arts & Sciences (A&S).

“Zong!” was named the 2021 winner of World Literature Today’s 21 Books for the 21st Century. Born in Tobago, Philip describes herself as an “unembedded poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, and independent scholar.” She lives in Toronto, where she practiced law for seven years before becoming a poet and writer. She is the author of “Zong!”; “She Tries Her Tongue”; “Her Silence Softly”; “Salmon Courage”; “Thorns”; “Harriet’s Daughter”; “Looking For Livingstone: An Odyssey of Silence” and numerous essay collections.

Amanda Brockner is MFA Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Literatures in English.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.