Art & Language Justice in Disabled Communities

Explore the transformative power of performance for movement building.

Art, poetry, performance, and language comes together in this online panel featuring writer Shayda Kafai, poet Kay Ulanday Barrett, organizer Lorenzo Van Ness, and performer Maria Palacios. Delving into the role of language in creating inclusive spaces, fostering understanding, and promoting disability justice, alongside the power of arts and performance in doing the same, this panel of prolific artists and trailblazers in the realm of disability justice come together to illustrate the impact of the arts in fostering a just and equitable world.

To join the event online | Please register for an Online Ticket. This event will be streamed on Zoom. To receive a Zoom link, please be sure to register! The link will be shared with registrants shortly before start time.

This World Literature Festival event is co-presented with Sins Invalid.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The New York Public Library’s World Literature Festival (April 15-30, 2024) celebrates books and writers from around the world and reflects the languages spoken in our communities. Discover what our patrons are reading in different languages, resources the Library offers, free events, book recommendations, and more.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

María R. Palacios is a poet, author, spoken word performer, motivational speaker, social change advocate, disability rights activist, mentor, and workshop facilitator whose work has appeared on numerous multi-media publications, conferences, and live events over the last three decades. María’s work centers around illustrating the power and beauty of disabled people without negating the truths surrounding ableism and non-disabled privilege. Maria is the author of several poetry books and in the artistic world she is known as the Goddess on Wheels. 

Kay Ulanday Barrett is a poet, essayist, cultural strategist, & A+ Napper & winner of the Cy Twombly Award for Poetry by The Foundation of Contemporary Arts. Their work has been published in The New York Times, Lit Hub, them., Poem-a-Day, Vogue, and more. Their book More Than Organs (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020) is a Stonewall Honor Book and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. 

Shayda Kafai (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality  Studies in the Ethnic and Women’s Studies department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As a queer, disabled, Mad Iranian femme, she commits to practicing the many ways we can reclaim our bodyminds from systems of oppression. She is the author of Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid  (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021).

GET THE BOOKS

If you have a NYPL library card, you can borrow the authors' books for free with our e-reader app SimplyE, available for iOS and Android devices.

Don't have a New York Public Library card? Get one here!

ACCESSIBILITY

• Live captioning will be provided.


• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org.

CONNECT 

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For questions and inquiries, please email adultprogramming@nypl.org

Please submit all press inquiries at least 48 hours before the event: email press@nypl.org.