Presenting Authors

Kazim Ali - sponsored by Jacqueline Tchakalian and Kate Coles

Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including several volumes of poetry, novels, and translations. He is currently a professor of literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. He edited the forthcoming anthology with Red Hen Press, New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims.

Martha Cooley - sponsored by Gina Knox

Martha Cooley is the author of three novels—Buy Me Love from Red Hen Press, The Archivist, a national bestseller also published in a dozen foreign markets, and Thirty-Three Swoons—and a memoir, Guesswork. She co-translated Antonio Tabucchi’s story collection Time Ages in a Hurry. Her essays, short fiction, and co-translations have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and numerous leading literary journals. She directs the MFA in Creative Writing at Adelphi University, where she is a Professor of English. Prior to Adelphi, she taught for fifteen years in the Bennington Writing Seminars. She lives in Castiglione del Terziere, Italy, and spends time in the United States. 

Afaa Weaver - sponsored by Francesca Bell

Afaa M. Weaver was born in Baltimore in 1951. He is the author of fifteen collections of poetry, most recently Spirit Boxing (University of Pittsburgh Press). From 1970-1985 he was a factory worker in his native Baltimore for fifteen years. A graduate of the writing program at Brown University, he has also worked in theater as a playwright and published short fiction, in addition to being a freelance journalist, editor, and translator. His awards include the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the St. Botolph's 2019 Distinguished Artist Award, the Gold Friendship Medal from the Beijing Writers Association, the 96th Medal in Writing and Art from Taiwan’s Artists and Writers Association, and a Guggenheim fellowship. In 2017, he retired from Simmons University, where he held the Alumnae Chair for twenty years. He now teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Afaa's papers are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Featured host authors:

• Boreal: Elizabeth Bradfield, Marie Tozier, Nicole Stellon O’Donnell
• Brendan Constantine – sponsored by Linda Horioka
• Lara Ehrlich – sponsored by Nicole Foos
• Judy Grahn
• Major and Didi Jackson
• Gary Lemons  – sponsored by Cindy Ballard
• Letras Latinas Table (Francisco Aragón)  – sponsored by James Wilson 
• Aimee Liu
• Douglas Manuel
• David Mason
• David Mas Masumoto – sponsored by Ann Beman
• Luis Rodriguez and Trini Rodriguez  – sponsored by Gary Edelstone
• Maurice Carlos Ruffin
• Brynn Saito – sponsored by Nancy Boutin
• Amy Shearn
• Dariel Suarez – sponsored by Paula Verrette
• Kristen Millares Young – sponsored by Andrew Seiple

Additional Event Sponsors:

• Lisa Krueger and Robert Wyman - Gold Press Sponsor
• Bianca Richards and Ron Koertge - Program Sponsor, Story Line Press
• Linda Fondren - Book Angel Sponsor for Lexicon by Allison Joseph
  
  

Sponsorship Packages and Tickets

Individual Tickets – $50

• 1 admission to the virtual benefit
• Red Hen gift bag mailed to your home at no extra cost

Gold Sponsorship – $5,000

• 10 admissions to the virtual benefit
• Invitation to a separate virtual room with one of our featured readers: Kazim Ali, Martha Cooley, or Afaa Weaver
• Autographed books by the author mailed to you and each of your guests
• A gift package—delivered ahead of the event—to you and each of your guests
• Full-page ad in the event’s tribute book
• 3 broadsides featuring each presenting author’s work, designed in-house by Red Hen cover artists and hand-signed by their respective authors

Silver Sponsorship – $3,000

• 10 admissions to the virtual benefit
• Invitation to a separate virtual room with one of our host authors
• Autographed books by the author mailed to you and each of your guests
• A gift package—delivered ahead of the event—to you and each of your guests
• Full-page ad in the event’s tribute book

Bronze Sponsorship – $1,800

• 10 admissions to the virtual benefit
• Invitation to a separate virtual room with one of our amazing Red Hen authors
• A gift package—delivered ahead of the event—to you and each of your guests
• Half-page ad in the event’s tribute book

Other Sponsorship Opportunities (Available to Non-Attending Sponsors as well)

Press Sponsor – $5,000

• Inclusion on Red Hen’s donor wall, to be displayed at the front of its Pasadena office
• Become an official sponsor of one of Red Hen’s programs: Arktoi Books, Crooked Hearts Books, DJS Books, Pighog Press, Story Line Press, Xeno Books, Letras Latinas, Quill Publishing, Writing in the Schools, and the Hen House Literary Center
• Sponsorship noted on our website, tribute book, and at the event
• Full-page advertisement in this year’s tribute book

Program Sponsor – $2,500

• Become an official sponsor of one of Red Hen’s programs (see details below)
• Sponsorship noted on our website, tribute book, and at the event
• Half-page advertisement in this year’s tribute book
• Available Program Sponsorships
  • Arktoi Books - publishes high-quality fiction and poetry by lesbian writers
  • Crooked Hearts Press - publishes women writers over the age of 55
  • DJS Books - publishes cutting-edge poetry books from China
  • Pighog Press - publishes regional and international voices, primarily from the British Isles
  • Story Line Press - publishes poetry with a focus on Formalism
  • Xeno Books - publishes quirky, well-crafted titles
  • Letras Latinas - supports the publication of a book of poems by a Latinx poet
  • Quill Publishing - publishes literary prose by a queer (LGBTQ) author
  • Writing in the Schools - provides free creative writing workshops and books to  over 4,500 low-income students in the third through twelfth grades 
  • Hen House Literary Center - supports literary workshops and events at Red Hen Press's office

Book Sponsor – $1,000

• Sponsorship noted on our website, tribute book, and at the event
• An optional choice of acknowledgment inside an upcoming Red Hen title

Contact Us

Please call (626) 406-1205 or email benefit@redhen.org to request additional information about Red Hen’s virtual benefit or make a table purchase.

Select your Tickets and Sponsorships now!