NYBALF returns to Harlem, September 18–20. Free Festival Registration is open →
Camonghne Felix
Poet • Essayist

Camonghne Felix, poet and essayist, is the author of Dyscalculia: A Love Story of Epic Miscalculation (One World, 2023), which was hailed by TIME Magazine and Vogue as one of the most anticipated books of 2023 and top memoirs of 2023. Her poetry debut Build Yourself a Boat (Haymarket Books, 2019), was long-listed for the 2019 National Book Award in Poetry, shortlisted for the PEN/Open Book Awards, and shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Awards. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Academy of American Poets, Harvard Review, LitHub, The New Yorker, PEN America, Poetry Magazine, Freeman’s Journal and elsewhere. Her next full length work, Let the Poets Govern, is forthcoming from One World, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She teaches Creative Writing across genre at The New School in New York City.
Events featuring
this guest

Friday Sept. 18 2026 • 8:00 PM | Harlem Stage Gatehouse
Let the Poets Govern: Opening Reception, Invocation, and Performance
Camonghne Felix · Titilope Sonuga · Yaissa Jimenez · Patricia Smith · Jasmine Mans · Yacouba Sissoko
The festival formally opens through poetry, music, voice, and public imagination. Taking its title from Camonghne Felix’s book, Let the Poets Govern sets the tone for the weekend through invocation and performance.
