The Potter’s House is thrilled to partner with 1455 Literary Arts for a special reading with Sean Murphy, who will read from his new collection The Blackened Blues, accompanied by singer and actor Ayana (Reed) Ogunsunlade. The Blackened Blues, which Dr. Cornel West has called “a powerful and beautiful collection of poems,” is a searing and timely take on American culture that finds perspective on the present by interrogating our past. These poems are part of a large and ongoing project that discusses (and celebrates) some of the author’s personal heroes who remain far less celebrated than they deserve to be. As it happens, many of them are musicians, hampered in various ways by discrimination, ranging from old fashioned racism to institutional and cultural indifference. Though there’s an elegiac sadness suffusing this collection, there’s also acknowledgment of defiant genius: they fought their battles bravely, in their art and in their lives. The Blackened Blues seeks to capture something (or, hopefully, more than a few things) essential about their lives, bearing witness while also paying homage. More info and blurbs via Finishing Line Press.