A Reading with James E. Cherry

Join us for a reading by James E. Cherry, the author of Edge of the Wind and Between Chance and Mercy.

The protagonist of James Cherry’s Edge of the Wind is rooted in history, in a lineage of African-American men, real and those that take life in literature, for generations; and yet remains a voice for today and even tomorrow. An iconic individual as much influenced by Wright and Ellison and Wideman as The Staples Singers and James Brown, Alex van der Pool is a remarkable creation. In this novel, James Cherry writes with an assured voice and a deep compassion, a blazing intellect and a heart fueled by hope. This novel is a joy to read.

-Chris Abani

In Between Chance and Mercy James E Cherry expresses poetry’s unique power to record, remember, and restore. From the scent of Old Spice to the relentless violence against Black life, Cherry describes the quotidian as generously and skillfully as he elucidates the profound. The poems in this collection remind me that we can’t escape history; that elegy is another word for praise; and that we all live in the delicate conundrum between chance and mercy.

-Ama Codjoe