In June 2015, the Rose O’Neill Literary House will welcome Kamilah to Chestertown for a month-long writer’s retreat. She was selected from this year’s pool of applicants as the winner of the Literary House’s 2015 Cave Canem Summer Residency. 

While most of her time will be spent working on her own writing projects and quietly exploring the town, Kamilah will also be a part of our second Summer Poetry Salon on Tuesday, June 23 at 4:30PM, sharing the stage with poet Vandana Khanna.

A recipient of fellowships to the Cave Canem Foundation, the Prague Summer Writing Institute, the Fine Arts Work Center Walker Fellowship and the Vermont Studio Center, Kamilah Aisha Moon’s work has been featured widely, including in Harvard Review, jubilat, Poem-A-Day for the Academy of American Poets,Oxford American, Callaloo, Villanelles,and Gathering Ground. A Pushcart Prize winner, she was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Audre Lorde Award from the Publishing Triangle. Moon holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and is the author of She Has a Name (Four Way Books).

The Cave Canem Summer Residency at The Rose O’Neill Literary House is a partnership with Cave Canem, the nation’s preeminent organization for young African American poets. Cave Canem’s mission is to serve as “a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.” Our Cave Canem Summer Residency is a month-long Chestertown retreat offered annually to one outstanding former Cave Canem Fellow. Previous Summer Residents include poets Yona Harvey in 2013, Kevin Vaughn in 2012, and Arisa White in 2011. 

 

The Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College serves as one of the cultural centers of campus, bringing together students, faculty, alumni, and local community members from across the disciplines. Our literary programming provides access to a wide variety of genres, including fiction, poetry,  creative nonfiction, scholarly prose, playwriting, and hybrid forms; our letterpress studio and Literary House Press introduce participants both to old and new technologies. We are dedicated to promoting the articulated word and to supporting students through professional, on-the-job training.