This event takes place on crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. Register here.

"Meet Me There" is a monthly intergenerational poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction experience curated by trans/genderqueer poet and sound artist Samuel Ace. Writers exploring genre and gender boundaries will be a special focus of this series. Some months our readings will take place at Charis Books with an option to watch virtually, and some months the event will be fully virtual, so be sure to check the listing!

October's featured poets are Roque Raquel Salas Rivera and Jadine (JD) Pluecker in celebration of their collections, Algarabía and The Every Wild.

Roque Raquel Salas Rivera es un poeta, educador y traductor puertorriqueño de experiencia trans. Sus reconocimientos incluyen el nombramiento como Poeta Laureado de la ciudad de Filadelfia, el Premio Nuevas Voces, el premio literario Lambda y el inaugural Premio Ambroggio. Coeditó de las antologías Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous, 2019) y La piel del arrecife: Antología de poesía trans puertorriqueña (La Impresora, 2023). Algarabía (Graywolf, 2025), su octava colección, es una épica especulativa trans. Roque Raquel vive y crea en una urbanización riopedrense y se desempeña como Catedrático Auxiliar del la Universidad
de Puerto Rico.

Roque Raquel Salas Rivera a poet, editor, educator, and translation of trans experience. His honors include being named Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, the Premio Nuevas Voces, a Lambda literary award, and the inaugural Ambroggio Prize. He has coedited the anthologies Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous Press, 2019) and La piel del arrecife: Antología de poesía trans puertorriqueña (La Impresora & Atarraya Cartonera, 2023. The author of seven poetry books, Algarabía (Graywolf, 2025), his eighth collection, is a speculative trans epic. Roque Raquel lives Puerto Rico, where he currently teaches in the College of General Studies at the University of Puerto Rico.

Jadine (JD) Pluecker works with language, that is, a material thing, a thing of life and history. Her undisciplinary work inhabits the intersections of writing, history, translation, art, interpreting, bookmaking, queer/trans aesthetics, non-normative poetics, language justice, and cross-border cultural production. They have translated numerous books from the Spanish, including Antígona González (Les Figues Press, 2016), Trash by Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny (Deep Vellum Press, 2023) and In Defense of Common Life: The Political Thought of Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar (Common Notions, 2024). JD has published three books of poetry: The Every Wild (Mouthfeel Press, 2024), Grin Go Home / Las provincias internas (Editorial Ultramarina, 2024), and Ford Over (Noemi Press, 2016). In 2019 Lawndale Art Center supported the publication of the artist book, The Unsettlements: Dad. From 2010-2020, she worked as part of the transdisciplinary collaborative Antena Aire and from 2015-2020 with the local social justice interpreting collective Antena Houston. JD edits chapbooks with Ugly Duckling Presse’s Señal series, is a recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writing Grant, and has exhibited work at Blaffer Art Museum, the Hammer Museum, Project Row Houses, and more. More info at www.jdpluecker.com and www.antenaantena.org.

Jadine (JD) Pluecker trabaja con el lenguaje, o sea una cosa material, una cosa de vida e historia. Su trabajo no-disciplinario habita las intersecciones de la escritura, la historia, el arte, la interpretación, la fabricación de libros, la estética queer/trans, las poéticas no-normativas, la justicia de lenguaje y la producción cultural trans-fronteriza. Ha publicado numerosos libros traducidos del español al inglés, incluyendo Antígona González (Les Figues Press, 2016), Basura de Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny (Deep Vellum Press, 2023) y In Defense of Common Life: The Political Thought of Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar (Common Notions, 2024). JD ha publicado tres libros de poesía: The Every Wild (Mouthfeel Press, 2024), Grin Go Home / Las provincias internas (Editorial Ultramarina, 2024) y Ford Over (Noemi Press, 2016). En 2019 Lawndale Art Center apoyó la publicación del libro de artista, The Unsettlements: Dad. Entre 2010-2020, trabajó con el colaborativo transdisciplinario Antena Aire y de 2015-2020 con el colectivo local de interpretación para la justicia social Antena Houston. JD edita plaquettes con la serie Señal de Ugly Duckling Presse, ha recibido la Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writing Grant y ha expuesto su trabajo en el Blaffer Museum, Hammer Museum, Project Row Houses, entre otros lugares. Más información se encuentra en www.jdpluecker.com y www.antenaantena.org.

Samuel Ace is a trans/genderqueer writer and sound artist. His latest books are I want to start by saying (Cleveland State University Poetry Center 2024), Our Weather Our Sea (Black Radish 2019), and Meet Me There: Normal Sex & Home in three days. Don’t wash. (Belladonna* 2019). Ace is the recipient of the Astraea Lesbian Writer Award and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in Poetry, as well as a repeat finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the National Poetry Series. Recent work can be found in Personal Best: Makers on Their Poems that Matter Most, Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry, Fence, BathHouse, The Texas Review, Poetry, We Want it All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetry, Best American Experimental Poetry, and many other journals and anthologies.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.

Meet Me There: Featuring Roque Raquel Salas Rivera and Jadine (JD) Pluecker