Join us at 144 Montague on Monday, February 6, at 7 PM as we partner with Books Are Magic to present the launch of José Olivarez's new poetry collection, Promises of Gold!

Guests can purchase tickets to attend the event in person or access a free livestream via YouTube live. Doors will open for in-person guests at 6 PM and the reading will begin at 7 PM. Q&A and book signing to follow.

Note that by attending this event, you agree to abide by Books Are Magic's event guidelines below as well as our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees are required to wear masks and provide proof of vaccination with either Excelsior Pass or vaccination card in order to enter the event. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.

About the Book

Written in English and combined with a Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, Promises of Gold is a groundbreaking collection of poems addressing how every kind of love—self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural—is birthed, shaped, and complicated by the invisible forces of gender, capitalism, religion, and so on. But even though the path to love is not easy, it is a path worth treading.

Love is at the heart of everything we do, and yet it is often mishandled, misrepresented, or narrowly defined. In the words of José Olivarez: “How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love—but what about our friends? Those homies who show up when the romance ends to help you heal your heart. Those homies who are there all along—cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant.”

Whether readers enter this collection in English or Spanish, these extraordinary poems are sure to become beloved for their illuminations of life—and love.

About the Author

José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by the Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he coedited the poetry anthology The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext. He cohosts the poetry podcast The Poetry Gods.

Event Guidelines

• All guests must be vaccinated to attend, and must provide proof of vaccination with either Excelsior Pass or vaccination card in order to enter event.
• All attendees are required to wear face masks, except readers at a safe distance on stage.
• Tickets are limited to restrict capacity.
• Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
• Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
• This event will be livestreamed via YouTube live here.
• As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event; email us and we'll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact Books Are Magic.