Literature- Poetry
S. Erin Batiste is an interdisciplinary poet, storyteller, and author of the chapbook Glory to All Fleeting Things. Based in New York City, S. Erin is the recipient of fellowships from PERIPLUS, Jack Straw Writers, and the dots between. Her other honors include fellowships and support from Cave Canem, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference-Rona Jaffe Foundation, Crosstown Arts, and Callaloo. S. Erin is a reader for The Rumpus and her own Pushcart, “Best New Poets,” and “Best of the Net-nominated poems are anthologized and appear internationally in Michigan Quarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, and wildness among other decorated journals.
At the Anderson Center, S. Erin worked on Hoard, her first full length manuscript. Hoard interrogates the unforeseen, devastating failure and aftermath of the 1980s and 1990s era of malls and suburbs, Americana, late capitalism, consumption, and the Black American middle-class family. Using confessional poetry, storytelling, and mixed-memoir alongside erasure poetry, archives and other ephemera, this collection traced the poet’s matrilineage, childhood, and various griefs to render what happened and examine Black femininity and feminism, inheritance, nostalgia, and mythology. S. Erin also led a fun, hands-on introduction to erasure poetry from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. in the North Studios Courtyard. Attendees explored examples of erasure poetry, learned about the uses of the form and several techniques, and had an opportunity to create their own poems with provided materials.