PRIDE Film and Poetry Mixer: How the Boogeyman Became a Poet featuring Tony Keith Jr., Candice Iloh, and the Baltimore International Black Film Festival
Thursday, June 22 | 6 pm – 9 pm
Mix and mingle at The Reginald F. Lewis Museum with afro futuristic exhibits, poetry, short films, music, and refreshments during Baltimore Pride Week. The evening kicks off with a series of short films exploring themes on same gender love, coming of age, parental acceptance, and bullying screened by the Baltimore International Black Film Festival. A talk back about coming of age and growing into their own personhood will follow.  

Tony Keith, Jr., Ph.D. and Candice Iloh will then present poetry and literary readings from their works, On How the Boogeyman Became a Poet and Everybody Looking.  Dr. Keith shares original stories and poems and performs spoken word about his journey towards being an openly gay Black man in America.  He discusses key moments as a teenager when poetry protected him from racism, poverty, homophobia, and white supremacy.  In Candice Iloh’s debut novel in verse, Every Body Looking, college and the newfound independence it brings launches 18-year-old Ada from her conservative upbringing into a discovery of what she wants. 

ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Anthony R. Keith, Jr, Ph.D. is a Black, gay, spoken word artist, poet, Hip-Hop educational leader, and writer who produces academic and community-based scholarship about the politics of Black language, and the possibilities for Black intellectualism to disrupt White supremacy in American education. Tony is a multi-year fellow and grant recipient of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities from his hometown of Washington, D.C., where he lives with his husband, Harry Christian, III. 

Candice Iloh is a first generation Nigerian-American writer, dancer, and author of the 2020 National Book Award finalist and 2021 Printz Honoree, Every Body Looking. They have performed their work around the country, most notably at Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City; the Women in Poetry & Hip Hop celebration at The Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore; and as part of the Africa In Motion performing arts series at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. 

The Baltimore International Black Film Festival (BIBFF) promotes and celebrates culturally significant films directed, produced, and starring African Americans and members of the African Diaspora.  They also prominently feature and celebrate films with content of interest to the Same Gender Loving – Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (SGL-LGBT) community. Their mission is to couple the film festival with education, health, and exhibition programs that enrich life in Baltimore City and the greater Washington, D.C.; Maryland; and Virginia communities.