Vi Khi Nao & Jayson P. Smith - October 28th, 2016

Friday Reading Series

Vi Khi Nao holds an MFA in fiction from Brown University, where she received the John Hawkes and Feldman Prizes in fiction and the Kim Ann Arstark Memorial Award in poetry. Her work includes poetry, fiction, film, and cross-genre collaboration. Her stories, drawings, and poems have also appeared in numerous literary journals, including Glimmer Train, NOON, and Ploughshares. She is the author of two novellas, Swans In Half-Mourning (2013) and The Vanishing Point of Desire (2011), and her poetry collection, The Old Philosopher, was the winner of 2014 Nightboat Poetry Prize. Her manuscript, A Brief Alphabet of Torture, won the 2016 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest. In Fall 2016, Coffee House Press will publish her novel Fish in Exile. She lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

Jayson P. Smith is a writer, editor, & educator. Their poems & interviews appear in journals such as fields magazine, The Offing, Day One, The Rumpus, & boundary2. Jayson has been the recipient of fellowships from The Conversation, Millay Colony for the Arts, & Callaloo as well as scholarships from Cave Canem & The New Harmony Writers’ Workshop. Jayson is currently a Mentor at Urban Word NYC & Creative Director for The Other Black Girl Collective. Jayson lives in Brooklyn and at www.jaysonpsmith.com.