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Crafternoon! Poetry and Papercraft

Inspired by the third Virtual Crafternoon! event with Maia Pearson, co-owner of Sweet Sorrel, this list includes just a small sampling of poetry by womxn writers at Madison Public Library! 

Crafternoon! was begun by Britney Sinclair in Madison-area homes to create social spaces where Womxn of Color were free to be their authentic selves. Madison Public Library was proud to present a series of three Virtual Crafternoon! events as an online "safe" social space for Womxn of Color (and allies) to connect, create, and practice self-care. This series was produced in partnership with Bri Creation Station with generous in-kind support from Willy Street Co-op, Alma Board & Box, Wisconsin Mujer, Sweet Sorrel and The Bubbler at Madison Public Library. Craft along with the recordings from this series throughout 2021 on the Madison Public Library YouTube channel!

Crafternoon! The Art of Cheeseboards with Megan Diaz-Ricks (founder of Alma Board & Box)

Crafternoon! Journaling for the New Year with Araceli Esparza (founder of Wisconsin Mujer)

Crafternoon! Make Handmade Valentine Cards with Maia Pearson (co-founder of Sweet Sorrel)

Recently Published Poetry Collections by Womxn of Color

Cover of Postcolonial Love Poem
Natalie
Diaz
Graywolf Press
2020

An anthem of desire against erasure, Natalie Diaz's brilliant second collection demands that every body carried in its pages--bodies of language, land, rivers, suffering brothers, enemies, and lovers--be touched and held as beloveds. Through these poems, the wounds inflicted by America onto an indigenous people are allowed to bloom pleasure and tenderness.

Cover of After the Rain: Gentle Rem
Alexandra
Elle
Chronicle Books
2020

In this soulful companion, celebrated self-care storyteller Alexandra Elle delivers fifteen lessons on navigating life's twists and turns with a clear mind, courageous spirit, and open heart.

Cover of Love Child’s Hotbed of O
Nikky
Finney
TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press
2020

National Book Award winner Nikky Finney's fifth collection of light house poems, prosaic hot beds, and personal artifacts, copper coins a new world matrix for American poetry, one that articulates the witness chair and punctuates the occasion of the lyric into a new language of "docu-poetry."

Cover of Furious Flower: Seeding th
Joanne V. Gabbin
and Lauren K. Alleyne
TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press
2020

 The Furious Flower Poetry Center is the nation's first academic center for Black poetry. In this eponymous collection, editors Joanne V. Gabbin and Lauren K. Alleyne bring together many of the paramount voices in Black poetry and poetics active today, composing an electrifying mosaic of voices, generations, and aesthetics that reveals the Black narrative in the work of twentieth- and twenty-first-century writers. Intellectually enlightening and powerfully enlivening, Furious Flower explores and celebrates the idea of the Black poetic voice by posing the question, What's next for Black poetic expression?"

Cover of Make Me Rain: Poems and Pr
Nikki
Giovanni
HarperCollins
2020

The seven-time NAACP Image Award-winning poet unapologetically celebrates her heritage in a deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society and the depths of her own heart.

Cover of Legacy: Women Poets of the
Nikki
Grimes
Various
Bloomsbury Children's Books
2021

From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance-- paired with full-color, original art from today's most talented female African-American illustrators. Taking inspiration from the unsung women poets of the era, Grimes uses the "Golden Shovel" poetry method to create original poems drawn from the words of ... groundbreaking women writers. Set alongside the original works, Grimes's all-new poetry pays tribute to the unique heritage of these women and their spiritual connection to nature, illuminating female self-expression in the early twentieth century, reinvented with contemporary relevance and context. 

Cover of All About Love: New Vision
bell
hooks
William Morrow
2000

A visionary and accessible book, bell hooks's All About Love offers radical new ways to think about love. Here, hooks, one of our most acute social critics, takes the themes that put her on the map - the relationship between love and sexuality, and the interconnectedness between the public and the private - and challenges the prevailing notion that romantic love is more important than all other bonds. All About Love is a blueprint for finding myriad types of love, which hold the redemptive power to change our minds and lives.

Cover of Home Body
Rupi
Kaur
Andrews McMeel Publishing
2020

Rupi Kaur constantly embraces growth, and in home body, she walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, and the potential of the self. home body is a collection of raw, honest conversations with oneself - reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family, and embrace change. Illustrated by the author, themes of nature and nurture, light and dark, rest here.

Cover of Anodyne
Queen
Khadijah
Tin House
2020

The poems that make up Anodyne consider the small moments that enrapture us alongside the daily threats of cataclysm. Formally dynamic and searingly personal, Anodyne asks us to recognize the echoes of history that litter the landscape of our bodies as we navigate a complex terrain of survival and longing. With an intimate and multivocal dexterity, these poems acknowledge the simultaneous existence of joy and devastation, knowledge and ignorance, grief and love, endurance and failure-all of the contrast and serendipity that comes with the experience of being human. If the body is a world, or a metaphor for the world, for what disappears and what remains, for what we feel and what we cover up, then how do we balance fate and choice, pleasure and pain? Through a combination of formal lyrics, delicate experiments, sharp rants, musical litany, and moments of wit that uplift and unsettle, Queen's poems show us the terrible consequences and stunning miracles of how we choose to live.

A Selection of Papercrafting Titles

Cover of The Papercraft Ideas Book
Jessica
Baldry
ILEX, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group
2020

A smorgasbord of papercraft inspiration and ideas. Aimed at anyone who wants to take their creativity further, The Papercraft Ideas Book is bursting with ideas for subjects, methods and styles for papercraft. It is a visual feast and source of inspiration for all abilities and people wanting to expand their creativity and their craft skills. You may be experiencing an artistic block or you might just want to learn a new handcraft skill - either way, it is the perfect book to inspire and expand your creative skills. Papercraft techniques are illustrated through over 80 examples of papercrafters' artwork, providing tips and inspiration.

Cover of Creative cut cards: 35 gre
Lark Crafts
2016

A beautiful handmade card makes any note feel like a gift! Using only specialty papers and a craft knife, crafters can easily create 35 elegant and quirky cards. The projects range from adorable apples for a teacher’s gift to candles for a birthday: you’ll find something for every celebration, including Easter, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine's Day, weddings, and more! 

Cover of Paper Joy for Every Room:
Laure
Farion
Schiffer Publishing, Ltd
2020

What's the most fun way to add new creative touches to your living space? As followers of Laure Farion's brand PapierPapierPapier know, the answer is paper! Here are 15 stylish, joyful paper projects to decorate every room in the house. Take advantage of paper's inexpensive charms and Laure's lighthearted designs to make your spaces more stylish, more creative, and more colorful. With this book, your favorite papers, and a few basic household items like scissors and a ruler, you can add beautiful touches to the kitchen, the kids' rooms, adults' bedrooms, the office, and even the yard or balcony.

Cover of Paper Pattern Play
Lotta
Jansdotter
Abrams
2018

A lifelong artist, Lotta Jansdotter has been creating patterns and motifs for fun since childhood and professionally since 1996. Her organic, playful, and timeless designs have appeared on everything from sewing and quilting fabrics to rugs, bedsheets, baby gear, dishes, and more. Here she presents a colorful collection of both iconic favorites and brand-new creations and also shares prompts and instructions for creating easy, fun, and whimsical projects.

Cover of The Complete Practical Boo
Cheryl Owen
and Alison Lindsay
Hermes House
2012

This lavish practical reference book is a compendium of 350 inspirational ideas, craft techniques and fabulous designs shown in evocative photographs.

Cover of The Complete Photo Guide t
Judi
Watanabe
Quarto Publishing Group
2016

Handmade cards are gifts, creative expressions, keepsakes, and relationship builders. Beneath the cardstock and embellishments is deep emotion from the card maker--encouragement, celebration, commemoration, and love. Unlike many store-bought cards that are thrown away, handmade cards are cherished and displayed. They spark connections, express feelings, evoke laughter, and warm the hearts of friends, relatives, and coworkers. There's joy in the process of creating, as well as in giving and receiving handmade cards.