A Visit With Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer

The Carleton Branch Library and Airport Community Schools is honored to host Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer.  Comer will visit with students at the school in the afternoon and then she will give an author talk and poetry reading at the Carleton Branch Library at 6:30 pm. Nandi Comer will be joined by local poet Mary Boudrie. 

Nandi Comer is the current Poet Laureate of Michigan. Informed by her experiences growing up in Detroit, Comer writes and performs literary pieces that incorporate the history of the city, while also examining race, gender, sexuality, and class. She is the author of American Family: A Syndrome (Finishing Line Press) and Tapping Out (Northwestern University Press), which was awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. She is a Cave Canem Fellow, a Callaloo Fellow, and a 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow.  Her poems and essays have appeared in Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, The Journal of Pan African Studies, and others. Nandi has served as a writer-in-residence in Detroit Public Schools and has worked in collaboration with organizations, including YArts and InsideOut Literary Arts Projects. She serves as a poetry editor for Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and is the co-director of Detroit Lit.  https://www.nandicomer.com/ 

Mary Boudrie is the author of two poetry collections, Whispers of faith and devotion a compilation of poetry for spiritual enlightenment and Poems from the heart : a thoughtful compilation of poetry for prayer and healing and she has two more collections of poetry waiting for publication.  Mary Boudrie is not only a poet, but also a loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and friend. Mary has been writing poems and short stories since she was a child. She is a retired Montessori preschool teacher and she has lived in Monroe county for 30+ years. Mary lived and worked in the suburbs of Detroit for the first 35+ years of her life. Her verses reflect not only a profound connection to the human experience, but also the warmth and wisdom gained from her life‘s experiences. Through her words, she shares, not just poetry, but the essence of a life devoted to love, family, faith and friendship.