City Lights joins ALTA Journal to celebrate its 27th issue!
Tayi Tibble reads from her new collection of poetry
Rangikura: Poems,
published by Alfred A Knopf
to be joined in conversation by Forrest Gander. Then accompanied with readings by Sylvia Brownrigg and ALTA Crossword constructors Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa
Then…contributors from the current issue will read from their works.
About Rangikura:
A fiery second collection of poetry from the acclaimed Indigenous New Zealand writer that U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo calls, “One of the most startling and original poets of her generation.”
Tayi Tibble returns on the heels of her incendiary debut with a bold new follow-up. Barbed and erotic, vulnerable and searching, Rangikura asks readers to think about our relationship to desire and exploitation. Moving between hotel lobbies and all-night clubs, these poems chronicle life spent in spaces that are stalked by transaction and reward. “I grew up tacky and hungry and dazzling,” Tibble writes. “Mum you should have tied me/to the ground./Instead I was given/to this city freely.”
Here is a poet staking out a sense of freedom on her own terms in times that very often feel like end times. Tibble’s range of forms and sounds are dazzling. Written with Māori moteatea, purakau, and karakia (chants, legends, and prayers) in mind, Rangikura explores the way the past comes back, even when she tries to turn her back on it. “I was forced to remember that,/wherever I go,/even if I go nowhere at all,/I am still a descendent of mountains.”
At once a coming-of-age and an elegy to the traumas born from colonization, especially the violence enacted against indigenous women, Rangikura interrogates not only the poets’ pain, but also that of her ancestors. The intimacy of these poems will move readers to laughter and tears. Speaking to herself, sometimes to the reader, these poems arc away from and return to their ancestral roots to imagine the end of the world and a new day. They invite us into the swirl of nostalgia and exhaustion produced in the pursuit of an endless summer. (“My heart goes out like an abandoned swan boat/ghosting along a lake”). They are a new highpoint from a writer of endless talent.
Tayi Tibble (Te Whānau ā Apanui/Ngāti Porou) was born in 1995 and lives in Te Whanganui a Tara, Aotearoa. In 2017, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, where she was the recipient of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing. She is the author of Poūkahangatus.
Forrest Gander is a Pulitzer Prize Winning poet, author, translator, and essayist. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, and essays. Twice Alive is his latest collection of poetry. His translations include the work of Gozo Yoshimasu, Pablo Neruda, Alfonso D’Aquino, and Raúl Zurita. He has received numerous honors for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for Be With, and the Best Translated Book Award, as well as fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim Foundation, and United States Artists. He makes his home in Northern California.
Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction: four novels, including Pages for You and The Delivery Room; a collection of short stories Ten Women Who Shook the World; and a book for middle-grade readers, Kepler’s Dream, which was turned into a feature film. Her works have been included in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of notable fictions and have been translated into several languages, and she has won a Lambda award for fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Zoetrope: All Story, the art journal frieze, as well as several anthologies. “The Lady in the Desert” was read on BBC Radio 4 and “Amazon” was one of NPR’s Selected Shorts. In addition to writing fiction, Sylvia Brownrigg has also taught at the American University in Paris and been widely published as a reviewer and critic.
Rebecca Goldstein is a research scientist working to discover immunotherapies for cancer. She lives with her wife in the Bay Area, where she is working to discover local bagels and pizza to satisfy her inner New Yorker. Rebecca started writing crossword puzzles in 2020.
Rafael Musa was born and raised in Brazil but has lived in the Bay Area for 10 years. When he’s not making crossword puzzles or doting on his cat Georgia, he’s on searching for the best iced decaf lattes, almond croissants, and açaí bowls in San Francisco.
About ALTA Magazine:
California and the West. From arts and culture, to technology and the environment, to food and fashion—what happens here happens everywhere. Alta Journal is a quarterly publication for anyone seeking an insider’s take on this most forward-thinking region.
Each large-format issue (the West demands a wide lens) demystifies the region with provocative essays, cultural commentary, deeply reported investigations, original fiction and poetry, sumptuous photos, topical cartoons, and more. Founded in 2017 by William R. Hearst III, Alta Journalprovides an exciting—and much-needed—literary perspective on the West, sparking conversations that are as diverse and vibrant as the place itself.
In this era of rapid change, the award-winning Alta Journal offers an immersive reading experience like no other.
This event made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation.