Join IPS ally, Split This Rock for the Third Biennial Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism reception and ceremony to celebrate 2017 recipient Christopher Soto (aka Loma), selected for advocacy on behalf of undocumented writers and queer homeless youth and for supporting queer poets of color. The three award finalists will be present and honored as well: Francisco Aragón for supporting and promoting Latinx poetry and poets; Andrea Assaf for telling stories of the Arab-American experience and of US service members and Iraqis in the Iraq war; and JP Howard aka Juliet P. Howard for building community among queer poets of color.

Made possible through the generosity of the CrossCurrents Foundation, the Freedom Plow Award recognizes and honors a poet or poetry collective doing innovative and transformative work at the intersection of poetry and social change. Freedom Plow is an opportunity to affirm the work of people whose efforts often go unacknowledged.

Co-sponsored by Institute for Policy Studies, the Arts Club of Washington and Busboys and Poets, the reception and ceremony will include poetry readings and ASL interpretation. Tickets are available online and cost $25 each. Students pay only $10. For more information, visit Split This Rock’s website.