Written by Victoria Walter
Poet Ama Codjoe will be artist-in-residence at the University of Central Arkansas from Sept. 23-24.
This residency will include a public reading and book signing in McCastlain Hall at 7:30 p.m., on Monday, Sept. 23.
Codjoe is the author of Bluest Nude (Milkweed Editions, 2022), winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and ; and Blood of the Air (Northwestern University Press, 2020), winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. She also is a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize.
The author has won various awards and has been awarded support from an array of residencies. In 2023, Codjoe was appointed the second Poet-in-Residence at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.
“We are excited to host NAACP Image Award finalist, poet Ama Codjoe,” said Sandy Longhorn, associate professor and faculty sponsor. “Her work focuses on the experiences of an African-American woman reclaiming her body and her self-worth from a society that often seeks to judge, criticize, and erase her being.”
A craft talk is also scheduled for 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24 in Win Thompson Hall. Other residency events are closed to specific UCA classes.
Longhorn said that during the residency Codjoe will tackle the complexity of writing about the human body, often through ekphrastic poems. These poems explore how the archetype of the artist complicates the typical expectations of women: be gazed upon, be silent, be selfless, reproduce.
This residency is sponsored by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
About the UCA artists-in-residence program
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024-25, the UCA Artists in Residence program is funded by UCA arts fees with additional support from Engage Management and Pyramid Art, Books, and Custom Framing. These events are free to UCA students and open to the public. No tickets are required. Events are located on the UCA campus, 201 Donaghey Ave, Conway, AR 72035. For more information, visit UCA Artist in Residence program or contact Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at (501) 450-3293 or gayles@uca.edu.
