Celebrate the life and work of internationally acclaimed poet and performer Jayne Cortez (1934-2012). Join Jadele McPherson, t’ai freedom ford, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, and electronic musician Val Jeanty as they invoke surrealism, politics, the spoken word, and New York City. “If the drum is a woman” will feature original works as well as selected classics by Cortez. Curated by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Emeritus Fellow of BEI, this program is one of three events (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts/The David Rubenstein Atrium, April 14 and The Poets House, April 16) honoring Cortez during Poetry Month.

Writer, vocalist, and sound artist, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of the chapbooks Ichi-Ban and Ni-Ban and Manuel is destroying my bathroom, and the album, Televisíon. Her work has been published in Rattapallax, Black Renaissance Noir, Nocturnes, Ploughshares, Black Belt, P.M.S, Jubilat, Everything But the Burden, Muck Works, and Fence. Awards and residencies include Cave Canem, VCCA, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Harlem Community Arts Fund, Barbara Deming Memorial Grant for Women and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. A native of Harlem, LaTasha is a 2011 Laundromat Project Create Change Artist in Residence and a Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant recipient.