Roxane Gay, Toshi Reagon & Celisse Henderson Headline Performance On Songwriter Podcast

Three powerful cultural voices - author Roxane Gay (Ayiti, Not that Bad, The Best American Short Stories), singer/songwriter, Toshi Reagon, and singer/songwriter, Celisse Henderson - come together for a special evening dedicated to the exploration of inspiration, presented by SongWriter and Harlem School of the Arts, live on Zoom, Saturday, July 11 at 8:00 pm.

A performance by these three uniquely, powerful artists would be considered momentous at any time, but becomes more significant at this social justice inflection moment. Roxane Gay is a celebrated author, social commentator, and New York Times opinion columnist. She is an observer who chronicles and frames conversations about her lived experiences and the world around her. Toshi Reagon is a versatile and brilliant self-described postmodern rhythm & blues, singer/songwriter, born into music royalty. She is the daughter of Cordell Hull Reagon, founder of the Freedom Singers, and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a member of the three-time Grammy Award-nominated a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Celisse Henderson is a multi-disciplinary, multi-instrumentalist, who comes by her diverse musicianship having been raised in a home of professional musicians. She has been a musical theatre star (Godspell, Wicked), and a concert singer mixing it up with artists like Lizzo, Melissa Etheridge, Joss Stone, and Macy Gray. Pairing these three creatives, sets the stage for what is shaping up to be a captivating evening of literary and musical call and response.

SongWriter is a live performance series and podcast of stories and "answer songs." Each episode brings together an established literary figure who reads a selection, and a songwriter who creates an original musical response. The series has featured literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, as well as Susan Orlean, Kurt Andersen, Sarah Jaffe, Jonathan Lethem, Gary Shteyngart, and Soman Chainani. This is Roxane's second appearance on SongWriter.

This event is presented by SongWriter podcast, in collaboration with the Harlem School of the Arts/HSA@Home, sponsored by the Strand Bookstore. Tickets for this event are available on Eventbrite, priced at $25.00.

It is critical to recognize the importance of the arts in our lives and especially in the lives of children. Support the future of the arts.

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