Poetry Connection | Connecting with South Asian Poets

Ever since she invited me to a Diwali celebration at her home, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know poet and scholar Monica Mody. It was my first time celebrating the Hindu Festival of Lights holiday. Mody explained that she missed home and spending the holiday with family. She knows what it is like to search for and create new forms of support and community. On Sunday, she will be in conversation with Serena Chopra at Chaucer’s Books at 4 p.m. Mody is excited about the opportunity to be a good literary citizen, support a fellow South Asian American poet, and be in conversation with Chopra. 

“I hope Santa Barbara shows up and offers a warm welcome to Serena Chopra,” Mody said. “Conversations can create openings to experience and engage in rich and deep ways with the work and vision of a fellow poet-artist, as well as learn about our shared or different worlds.”

Chopra is a writer, dancer, performance artist, and filmmaker. In addition to her many talents, Chopra is the recipient of a vast array of grants including NEA, Kundiman, Fulbright, and MacDowell. The queer, mixed-race, Punjabi American writer is the author of three books, her latest is A Catalog of Future Mercies. The memoir in poems will be available at Chaucer’s. I look forward to her conversation with Mody. Read one of Chopra’s poems online at the Academy of American Poets. 

Another upcoming poetry event is the Blue Whale Series featuring Perie Longo and Stephanie Barbé Hammer. Stephanie’s debut at the Blue Whale was postponed last May due to her research trip to New York, where she was a guest of a posh party for the opening of a fashion exhibition featuring Alan Kramer, her grandfather’s designs. Hammer says she will be reading some of her favorite old poems as well as some very new ones about food and transportation. 

Stephanie Barbé Hammer (left) | Photo: Courtesy

Upcoming Poetry Events:

Sunday, August 30
Serena Chopra. Chaucer’s Books presents a poetry reading and conversation with Monica Mody about Chopra’s book, A Catalogue of Future Mercies, 4-5 p.m.

Wednesday, September 9
Blue Whale Reading Series. Featuring poets Stephanie Barbé Hammer and Poet Laureate Emerita Perie Longo, 5:30 p.m., Unity of SB Chapel, 227 E. Arrellaga Street.

Thursday, September 10
The Poetry Zone. The poetry zone returns from its August hiatus, 401 State Street, 4 p.m. 

Saturday, September 12
Poetry in the Bowl. Crystal AC Salas and Catherine Abbey Hodges, both Gunpowder Press poets, read outdoors at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol. Rob Hodges accompanies on cello, 3:30-4:30 p.m.