Franny Choi to Headline Wild Women of Poetry Slam

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photo of Franny Choi seated looking over shoulder
photo of Angelica Miller at microphone

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 19, 2019) Franny Choi, author of two poetry books and co-host of the popular podcast "VS," will perform as headliner and celebrity judge at the Wild Women of Poetry Slam, presented by the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Six poets from throughout the Midwest will vie for the $500 Faith A. Smith Poetry Prize from 7:30-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, located at 141 East Main St. in Lexington. The slam is free and open to the public. 

Choi’s visit marks her return to Lexington, after winning the slam and receiving the Faith A. Smith Poetry Prize in 2014. This top honor in the Wild Women of Poetry Slam was established by Frank X Walker in memory of his mother and awards $500 to the winner. Slated to compete this year are AJ Addae of Evanston, Illinois; Taryn Markle of Shelbyville, Kentucky; Morgan Moore of Louisville, Kentucky; Tanyqua Oliver of Lexington; Gwen Pearce of Lexington; and Moneeca Phillips of Cincinnati, Ohio. Angelica Miller, a poet who founded the Carnegie Center’s new slam poetry series called Blood Speaks, is debuting as emcee.

Franny Choi is the author of two poetry collections, "Soft Science" and "Floating, Brilliant, Gone," as well as a chapbook, "Death by Sex Machine." Her poems have appeared in journals including Poetry magazine, American Poetry Review and New England Review, and her work has been featured by the Huffington Post, Ms. Magazine, "PBS NewsHour" and Angry Asian Man. With Danez Smith, she co-hosts the podcast "VS," presented by the Poetry Foundation. A former co-director of the award-winning Providence Poetry Slam, Choi is a two-time winner of the Rustbelt Poetry Slam and has performed her work in schools, conferences, theaters and bars across the country.

The 40th anniversary Kentucky Women Writers Conference will take place Sept. 19–22, 2019, at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and other Lexington venues. A program of the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, the conference is the longest running literary festival of women in the nation. For more information on the conference, visit online at www.kentuckywomenwriters.org or call 859-257-2874.