Today, the Human Rights Campaign announced that HRC President Alphonso David will join 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown in conversation. Brown is also a professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University. The event will be livestreamed at 6:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 13. More information can be found here.

“The arts have played and continue to play a critically important role in bringing people together, providing comfort and inspiration during difficult times, such as the COVID 19 crisis and raising the visibility of the stories that are too often pushed to the margins,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “That is why I’m so honored to speak with poet Jericho Brown. In his powerful and illuminating writing, he moves us closer to the truth and shines a light on the pain, power, resilience and beauty of the Black LGBTQ community. I am grateful for the opportunity to sit down with him, and look forward to what promises to be a deeply impactful conversation.”

Jericho Brown is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection "The Tradition," which explores humanity’s relationship with terror and the normalization of evil. Previous works include "Please" and "The New Testament," which explore themes of love, race, violence, masculinity and sexuality. Both works were well-received, with "Please" winning the American Book Award and "The New Testament" winning the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. In describing the tradition he is writing in, Brown has said, “I’m a Black gay Southern poet. I’m writing poems that tell the truth and that encourage someone to be more truthful.”

The event will include a Q&A portion. To submit a question for consideration during the event, please send your question in the form of a video to madeleine.roberts@hrc.org by 12pm EDT on Tuesday, May 12.

HRC President Alphonso David has centered the role of the arts in HRC’s work since taking over as president: for how they can explore painful and necessary truths, in how they can urge people to take action and how they can be part of our queer joy and resistance. Last month, HRC launched HRCares, a virtual care package to provide a moment of joy and comfort to our LGBTQ family. For HRCares, David shared powerful words in a poem, “Some Days,” by James Baldwin. HRC also celebrated Poetry Month in April with a series of blog posts.

For a full list of all of HRC’s efforts and resources during the COVID-19 global health crisis, please visit this link.