VS Presents: JOURNEY(S) – live podcast recording

JOURNEY(S) is a visual anthology combining oral history with original poetry, animation, and archival photos to honor the stories of Ethiopian women in America and Black women across the diaspora. This screening of three English episodes of VS Presents: JOURNEY(S) will be followed by conversation between writer, director, and producer, Saaret E. Yoseph, and Chicago poet, Aricka Foreman.

VS Presents is a spin-off of the podcast VS, which takes audiences on deep dives of poetic pasts and possibility. The first season of VS Presents, VS Presents: Roll Call offered six explorations into the legacy and futurity of Black poetics, covering topics such as sonic journeys into black time, queer South African poetics, and the influence of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. VS Presents: Journey(s) will be one of the new special episodes that will air on the VS podcast stream in 2024.

This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream. This event is also a live podcast episode recording, which will be available wherever you access podcasts in 2024.

Saaret E. Yoseph is an Ethiopian-American writer and multidisciplinary artist with more than 10 years of experience telling stories about art, culture, and intersectionality. Her work has been featured by HuffPost, The Rumpus, The Root, the Washington Post, CNN, and the Ethiopian Reporter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she penned the column “Chronicles of a Diaspora Kid.” In 2014, Saaret made her directorial debut with RED LINE DC, a master’s thesis-turned-independent documentary that explored gentrification and graffiti in her hometown Washington, DC. She went on to produce diverse programming and content, in collaboration with CommonLit, the Environmental Film Festival, HumanitiesDC, Meridian Hill Pictures, andGoogle Cultural Institute, among others.

Aricka Foreman is an American poet and interdisciplinary writer from Detroit, Michigan. She is the author of Dream with a Glass Chamber and Salt Body Shimmer , and the winner of the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry. She has earned writing fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, and Millay Arts. Her poetry and essays have been featured in Catapult, the Black Warrior Review, Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature,Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry,  on the Academy of American Poets website, and in other publications. She lives in Chicago, Illinois, and works as a publicist for Haymarket Books.

In-Person Attendance
Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in for those who would like to wear one. Please note that some event performers may choose to perform without a mask. The Foundation reserves the right to update this policy if community levels of COVID-19 increase significantly. Read our full COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines.

Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.

The Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide