A Conversation with Tucson Poet Laureate TC Tolbert Part 1

Tucson has a new poet laureate! TC Tolbert is the first trans-queer poet laureate in United States history. In honor of this occasion Blackfeet tribal member and writer Bill Wetzel convened this panel Ideas For Change: A Conversation with Tucson Poet Laureate TC Tolbert in April 2017. Casa Libre founder/executive director and poet Kristen E. Nelson moderated the conversation at Revolutionary Grounds Books & Coffee. Blackfeet tribal member and writer Bill Wetzel hosted the event. The evening begins with introductions and remarks by Bill Wetzel and poet Logan Phillips followed by an intimate discussion between Kristen Nelson and Tucson Poet Laureate TC Tolbert.

Moderator: Kristen E. Nelson

Kristen Elissa Nelson is the author of “sometimes I gets lost and is grateful for noises in the dark” (Dancing Girl, 2017) and Write, Dad (Unthinkable Creatures , 2012). She has published creative work in The Feminist Wire, Denver Quarterly, Drunken Boat, Tarpaulin Sky Journal, Glitter Tongue, Trickhouse, In Posse Review, Cranky, and Everyday Genius, among others. She is a founder and the executive director of Casa Libre en la Solana, as well as, the program coordinator for the UA Institute for lGBT Studies.

Panelist: TC Tolbert

TC Tolbert often identifies as a trans and genderqueer feminist, collaborator, dancer, and poet but really s/he’s just a human in love with humans doing human things. The author of “Gephyromania” (Ahsahta Press 2014) and 3 chapbooks, TC is also co-editor (along with Trace Peterson) of Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics (Nightboat Books 2013). S/he is currently studying to be an EMT and spends his summers leading wilderness trips for Outward Bound. His favorite thing in the world is Compositional Improvisation (which is another way of saying being alive).

Recorded and produced by Amanda Shauger