Highland Bowl, 1137 South Ave, Rochester, NY 14620
Rain Venue: Third Presbyterian Church: 4 Meigs St, Rochester, NY 14607
ASL interpreted; accessible venue
Leonora Simonovis is a Venezuelan American poet, editor, educator, and the author of Study of the Raft, winner of the 2021 Colorado Prize for Poetry and Honorable Mention at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards. Her poetry has been featured in or is forthcoming from the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, About Place Journal, Amsterdam Review, Whale Road Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Her poems consider the intersections of myth, language, and story in connection to the land and to her experience as an exile. Learn more at www.leonorasimonovis.com.
Cornelius Eady is the author of seven books of poetry. He has received the Academy of American Poets’ 2025 Wallace Stevens Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in poetry; a Lifetime Achievement Award from Furious Flower in 2024; and numerous other recognitions, including an NEA Fellowship in Literature; a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry; a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to Bellagio, Italy; and the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award. With fellow poet Toi Derricotte , in 1996, Eady co-founded Cave Canem Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets; fostering community across the diaspora; and facilitating a nurturing space in which to learn, experiment, create, and present. On January 1, 2026, he delivered before a crowd of thousands his poem “Proof,” commemorating the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani, the 112th Mayor of New York City and the city’s first Muslim and South Asian individual elected to the position.
Kimiko Hahn is author of eleven collections of poetry, including The Ghost Forest: New & Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2024) which plays with given forms while creating new ones, and, in doing so, honors past writers. Previous books Foreign Bodies, Toxic Flora, and Brain Fever were prompted by fields of science; The Narrow Road to the Interior takes title and forms from Basho’s famous journals. Reflecting her interest in Japanese poetics, her essay on the zuihitsu was published in the American Poetry Review. She will serve as New York State Poet from 2025-2027. Hahn is a distinguished professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation at Queens College, The City University of New York.
Adrienne Mack-Davis is a classically trained singer and songwriter originally from Rochester, NY. She has performed her unique blend of Soul, R&B, Hip Hop, Dance and Pop at more than 1,700 live shows worldwide, sharing stages with renowned artists including Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Rakim, and KRS-One. In 2023, she served as a U.S. Embassy Artist Envoy, facilitating more than 50 international workshops focused on women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship, and creative arts. Her performance credits include major festivals such as SXSW, A3C, Bridge Fest, Hue Fest, and the Grassroots Festival. She has also been featured on the SoFar Sounds Live Series, demonstrating her adaptability across stages of all sizes. Now based in New England, she performs with her own solo band and Harsh, a well-known Seacoast R&B/Soul experience.
