Bryant Park Reading Room: David Groff, Kazim Ali, Martha Rhodes, & Richard Smith

Award-winning poetry by established and emerging poets throughout the summer.DAVID GROFF is the author of _Live in Suspense_ , published in 2023 by Trio House Press. His previous book _Clay_ , also from Trio House, was chosen by Michael Waters for the Louise Bogan Award. His first collection, _Theory of Devolution_ (University of Illinois Press), was selected by Mark Doty for the National Poetry Series. With Philip Clark, he edited _Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS_ (Alyson); with Jim Elledge, he edited _Who’s Yer Daddy?: Gay Writers Celebrate Their Mentors and Forerunners_ (University of Wisconsin Press), winner of a Lambda Literary Award. An independent book editor, he teaches poetry and publishing in the MFA creative writing program at the City College of New York. KAZIM ALI was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the UNITED STATES, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His most recent book is _Sukun: New and Selected Poems_ (Wesleyan University Press, 2023), which Publisher’s Weekly called, “dazzling.” His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of _poetry The Voice of Sheila Chandra_ (Alice James Books, 2020), _Inquisition_ (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) _All One’s Blue_ (HarperCollins India, 2016) _Sky Ward_ (Wesleyan University Press, 2012) winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; _The Fortieth Day_ (BOA Editions, 2008); _The Far Mosque_ (Alice James Books, 2005) winner of Alice James Books’ New England/NEW YORK Award; and the cross-genre texts _Bright Felon_ (Wesleyan University Press, 2009) and _Wind Instrument_ (Spork Press, 2014). His most recent book is _Northern Light: Power, Land and the Memory of Water_ (Milkweed Editions, 2021), which Literary Hub called “A balm for the soul.” His novels include _The Secret Room: A String Quartet_ (Kaya Press, 2017) and among his books of essays are the hybrid _memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies_ (Tupelo Press, 2018) _and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice_ (Tupelo Press, 2011). He is also an accomplished translator of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others, and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. MARTHA RHODES is the author of 5 poetry collections, most recently _The Thin Wall_ from the University of Pittsburgh Press. She is working on a new and selected collection. She teaches at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and is the publisher and executive editor of Four Way Books. RICHARD SMITH’S first book, _Not a Soul but Us_ , won the 2021 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize and was released in 2022 by Bauhan Publishing. His second book, _Beyond Where Words Can Go_ , has just been published, also by Bauhan. Both are narratives told in sonnets: _Not a Soul but Us_ follows a 12-year-old boy orphaned and abandoned during the plague pandemic in mid-14th-century Yorkshire, and _Beyond Where Words Can Go_ tracks a group of Tudor-era Benedictine monks before, during, and after Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. Richard is a psychologist with a clinical practice in Washington, D.C