I Guess It Was My Destiny To Live So Long

A night of poetry with Sarah Kay, Anis Mojgani, Clint Smith, and Hanif Abdurraqib
Tue, Nov 18 at 7:30pm
Harvey Theater at BAM Strong
Tickets start at $28
Please note: All online and phone orders are subject to a $3 facility fee and an $8 handling fee per ticket. All orders at the box office are subject to a $3 facility fee per ticket.

Propelled by their deep and abiding friendship, Sarah Kay, Clint Smith, Anis Mojgani, and Hanif Abdurraqib have performed a reading together annually for the past eight years. After their massively popular engagement last year, Stones in the Water returns to the Harvey Theater at BAM Strong for another night of inspiring poetic expression. The show has not only achieved remarkable success and built a devoted following, but it has also—true to the series’ themes—created a space for both artists and audiences to see how a deep commitment to care and friendship can enrich artistic practices.

Collaborative reading of the poetry works of Nikki Giovanni
Wed, Nov 19 at 7pm
BAM Rose Cinemas
Tickets start at $17
Please note: A $2 handling fee per ticket will be added to your order.

As part of the program, we’re screening the documentary Going To Mars, which offers an in-depth look at the life and art of the great Nikki Giovanni and places us in the context of the times in which she wrote, lived, and worked. The screening will be followed by a reading in tribute to Giovanni, with a selection of poets reading a selection of her works.

As told to the author by Setaey Adamu Boateng
A poetry performance by m. nourbeSe philip
Thu, Nov 20 at 7:30pm
The Adam Space
Peter Jay Sharp Building

Award-winning poet, writer, and lawyer m. nourbeSe philip comes to BAM for an unforgettable poetry performance. philip’s best known work is her fourth book of poetry, Zong! (2008, 2011, 2023), the book relies entirely on the words of the legal decision Gregson v. Gilbert, the English case related to the massacre of 150 Africans murdered by drowning so that the ship’s owners could collect insurance money in 1781. Equal parts song, moan, shout, oath, ululation, curse, and chant, Zong! excavates the legal text by colliding memory, history, and law resulting in a poetics of the fragment. Through the innovative use of fugal and counterpointed repetition, Zong! becomes an anti-narrative lament that stretches the boundaries of the poetic form, haunting the spaces of forgetting and mourning the forgotten.

With Love Higher
Fri, Nov 21 at 7pm
The Adam Space
Peter Jay Sharp Building

New York rapper Billy Woods, who released his ninth solo studio album in May 2025, performs in The Adam Space for one night only, exploring the nature of perception and the power of voice through his unique sonic style. Woods is joined by Love Higher, a DJ and producer who weaves ethereal textures through club, hard drum, and global dance rhythms. Emerging from the Midwest nightlife scene, their journey began on internet radio before expanding into New York’s underground.