Who: 516 ARTS
What: A literary arts event with special guest Michael Datcher
When: Saturday, May 9, 7:30 pm
Where: Outpost Performance Space located at 210 Yale SE in Albuquerque
Contact: (505) 242-1445 or (505) 268-0044

516 ARTS, the UNM M.F.A. in Creative Writing program and Outpost Performance Space invite you to a literary arts event with special guest Michael Datcher, an award winning memoirist, poet, journalist and critic, Saturday, May 9, 7:30pm at the Outpost Performance Space located at 210 Yale SE in Albuquerque.

Michael Datcher is a poet and critically acclaimed journalist from Los Angeles and author of the New York Times Bestseller Raising Fences, his memoir about a black man’s right to security, family and love. In this emotionally raw and intimate narrative, Datcher reflects on his fatherless childhood in inner-city Los Angeles, his attraction to local gangs, his promiscuity, and, at times, his lack of faith. The film rights for Raising Fences were optioned by actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Productions, who hired Datcher to write the screenplay. Datcher is co-editor of Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. His latest play Silence was commissioned by and premiered at the Getty Museum. He has appeared on both news programs Nightline and Dateline as an analyst and is a frequent commentator on BBC Radio. He is co-host of the weekly public affairs news magazine Beautiful Struggle on 90.7 FM KPFK. Datcher’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, LA Times, Baltimore Sun, The Source, Ladies Home Journal and Vibe among many other publications. He has curated and/or presented his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hammer Museum and other art institutions.

Local African American poets and spoken word artists will open up for Mr. Datcher, including Maisha Baton, Hakim Bellamy, Idris Goodwin and Gary Jackson. Virginia Hampton and Stephanie Willis (formerly of Out ch’Yonda) will perform a spoken word duet about Charles Mingus.

This event is in conjunction with West Southwest: ABQ-LA Exchange at 516 ARTS (April 4 - May 16, 2009), and is organized by Lisa Gill and Richard Vargas, 516 ARTS literary arts co-coordinators. A visual slideshow about this LA exchange project, composed by Bryan Konefsky of Basement Films, accompanies the featured poets.

Tickets are $12 and are available at 505-242-1445 or 505-268-0044.

For more New Mexico information visit www.new-mexico-visitor.com