Fountain Square Poetry Series
Presented by Writers Guild at Bloomington
Sponsored by By Hand Gallery
Featuring poets Pauletta Hansel, Jelani Ince, Maurisa Li-A-Ping, and Lisa Low with musician Brandon Pfeiffer
Hosted by Lisa Kwong
Free Admission
Pauletta Hansel is author of six poetry collections, including Palindrome (Dos Madres Press, 2017), winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for best Appalachian poetry book. Pauletta was Cincinnati’s first Poet Laureate from April 2016 through March 2018.
Jelani Ince is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology department at Indiana University. A native of Columbia, 
MD, his interest in writing was sparked during his freshman year of college after taking a seminar course about protesting and art. He is thankful for poetry because it centers, heals, and calls you to be honest.
Maurisa Li-A-Ping is a storyteller and educator raised by a village of Black women in Brooklyn, NY. Maurisa utilizes poetry to promote the success of marginalized students, on college campuses, through Communal Poetry Environments. Maurisa’s commitment as a storyteller and educator has allowed her to perform and present at NASPA’s 100th Annual Conference, the World-Famous Apollo Theater, United Nations, and more. Her dedication to her craft has led her to receive national honors from The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, their Alumni Microgrant, and publication with Lunch Ticket, The National Institute for Transformative Equity, and Wusgood Mag.
Lisa Low was born and raised in Maryland. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Indiana University, and her
poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Passages North, Quarterly West, cream city review, Vinyl, The Journal, and elsewhere.
Armed with an acoustic guitar and an open journal, Brandon Pfeiffer builds accessible ballads oscillating 
between the earnestand the tongue-in-cheek. His introspection reveals a continual coming of age and lyrics reflect invitations to hope. Fine-tuned vocal melodies trace his contemporary airs, creating space for listeners to simply observe Pfeiffer’s personal work in progress or pack their belongings and move into their own. As one fan described, “You don’t attend a Brandon Pfeiffer show; it attends you.”
Free Admission and Free Raffle