ARTIST/WRITER STATEMENT
In my writing I value hybridity and the building of juxtapositions that create productive pressures. The poetic, especially in its most conceptual and experimental forms, influences my multi-genre practice. I hope for accuracy. I hope to initiate aimless conversation that produces more questions than conclusions. I hope for an unfamiliar clarity. I work towards those hopes. I learn from Toni Morrison and Jayne Cortez as much as I learn from Dom Sylvester Houédard; I learn as much from David Antin as I do from Silvina Ocampo and Arundhati Roy. I strive for plainness and playful confrontation.
Read More:
BOMB Magazine, “Lovely to Have Your Dead (But Not Only): Jessica Lanay Interviewed by Chiwan Choi”
Rhino Poetry Journal Review of Lanay’s Debut Poetry Collection, am•phib•ian.
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Since June of 2020, Jessica Lanay has been the acting literary curator at The August Wilson African American Cultural Center. A monthly digital program held on the final Friday of each month, LIT Friday hosts artists and writers. Previous interviewed guests include Ashley Ford, Damon Young, Nona Faustine, Ming Smith, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Danyel Smith, and many others. For more click here.
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Since 2017, Jessica Lanay has contributed interviews and reviews to BOMB Magazine of artists such as Shiva Sanjari, Howardena Pindell, Shikeith, Vanessa German, Ayana Evans, Tsedaye Makonnen, Ben Jones, Mikael Owunna, and many others. Please visit the art writing page for links.
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In 2020, Jessica Lanay was awarded the Broadside Poetry Press award for her debut poetry collection am•phib•ian. The prize was judged by poet and Cave Canem co-founder Toi Derricotte. am•phib•ian can be purchased from Wayne State University Press.
Read poet and editor, Maya Marshall’s review in Rhino Poetry here.
Jessica Lanay is currently at work on her second poetry collection.