Page Meets Stage: Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz & Rio Cortez

Join us on Saturday, April 12, with a special benefit edition of Page Meets Stage featuring Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz & Rio Cortez. Page Meets Stage is a poetry series that pairs more page-oriented, academic poets with poets who come from a more spoken-word or performative background. Both poets are on stage at the same time and read back and forth, poem for poem, sometimes answering each other, poem for poem, and other times taking the poetic conversation in a different direction. The series was founded and curated by poet Taylor Mali, and this event will be raising funds to support Brooklyn Poets programs, fellowships & operations. 

Guests can donate to attend on a sliding scale—please contribute what you can. Advance online ticketing for in-person attendance will end at 5 PM on the day of the event. After that, guests can get tickets at the door until we reach capacity; tickets for virtual attendance will be available until the start of the readings at 7 PM. A Zoom link will be emailed to all ticket holders. Closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us at bkp@brooklynpoets.org. 

Note that by attending this event, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees for events are currently required to wear masks (regardless of vaccination status) except readers at a safe distance on stage. We will have masks available. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.

Series History & Evolution

Despite originally being called Page vs. Stage, it has never been a competition in any way. In fact, originally the series wasn’t a series at all. The very first pairing was in November of 2005 and featured Taylor Mali reading opposite his mentor and teacher Billy Collins. It was Bob Holman, the emcee that night and owner of the Bowery Poetry Club, who encouraged Mali to turn it into a semi-monthly series. Mali says, “We’ve had well over 100 pairings of Page Meets Stage, most of which are available on YouTube. In the beginning, I used to really care about the labels—about who was PAGE and who was STAGE. These days the lines are much more blurred, and ideally we pair poets who are accomplished on both 'surfaces' who will appreciate each other's work and be able to have a conversation."

Featured Poets

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is a New York Times best-selling author and poet whose work has earned fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, the Amy Clampitt House and Hedgebrook. Her previous books include the poetry collections How to Love the Empty Air and The Year of No Mistakes, and the nonfiction book, Dr Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine. When not on tour, she splits her time between Austin, TX and Philadelphia, PA.

Rio Cortez is a poet and the New York Times bestselling author of picture books The ABCs of Black History, The River Is My Ocean and The ABCs of Women's History. Her debut poetry collection, Golden Ax, was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry and the Pen America Open Book Award. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, she now lives, writes, and works in Harlem.

COVID-19 Policy

All event attendees are required to wear masks due to the current prevalence of cases in NYC. Masks will be available at the door.

The current metrics available, including NYC wastewater data and the CDC’s Respiratory Virus Activity Levels, both indicate high levels of COVID and other illnesses. While your personal risk tolerance may vary, the unmitigated spread of COVID and other respiratory illnesses disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our community—including those who are immunocompromised or don’t have the privilege of paid sick days to heal and recover. We hope you’ll join us in taking the actions we can to make our space welcoming to all and to keep each other safe. Please stay home if you are experiencing symptoms, have a positive COVID test or someone close to you has recently tested positive.

We strongly encourage daytime visitors and workshop attendees to wear masks. Workshop instructors may choose to enforce a more stringent policy at their own discretion. Additionally, workshop participants may be required to wear masks as an accessibility accommodation for other participants.

While we do our best, Brooklyn Poets cannot guarantee zero risk. A risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in all public settings. By entering the building, students, teachers and other attendees accept the risk of exposure and knowingly waive and release Brooklyn Poets from any liability related to COVID-19.

Brooklyn Poets Code of Conduct

Brooklyn Poets will not tolerate any instances of discrimination, harassment or abuse in conjunction with any of our programs. Respect and consideration for others, both within and outside our programs, are core values to be upheld by all participants. Discrimination against and/or harassment of community members on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status or any other factor is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Program participants are expected to adhere to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Should a board or staff member, independent contractor, volunteer or program participant be found to violate any aspect of the organization’s code of conduct, Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss them from the program. Consequences may include, but not be limited to, dismissal from the current activity, suspension, ineligibility for all future activities, and/or loss of payment or fees. If you have any issues to report, please do not hesitate to contact anyone on our Conduct Committee and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Executive Director r kay: kay@brooklynpoets.org
Board Director Miller Oberman: miller.oberman@gmail.com