Register to Join Virtually

Arlene Keizer, an Afro-Caribbean American poet and scholar, writes about the literature, lived experience, theory, and visual culture of the African Diaspora. She earned an MA in English and Creative Writing (Poetry) from Stanford and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her poems and articles have appeared in African American Review, American Literature, The Kenyon Review, PMLA, Poem-a-Day, Radical Teacher, TriQuarterly, and other venues. Her new book Fraternal Light: On Painting While Black won the 2022 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. Born to emigrants from Trinidad, she lives in Brooklyn, NY, and teaches at Pratt Institute.

Fraternal Light is a lyrical work that honors the African American artist Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), who has a special connection with 8 West 8th Street. While his work only received widely recognized acclaim posthumously, Delaney established himself as a well-known figure of the bohemian art scene in Greenwich Village from the 1930s through the early 1950s. During that time, he worked for a while as a guard, telephone operator, and gallery attendant at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in the building that is today the New York Studio School, in exchange for a studio and living space.

This event was conceived by NYSS as a tribute to the New York Landmarks Conservancy during their 50th Anniversary celebrations.