The Porch and Soul’d Creative are excited to co-host Olatunde Osinaike for his book tour of Tender Headed, selected by Camille Rankine as a winner of the 2022 National Poetry Series. The book is a musical and formally playful meditation on Black identity, masculinity, accountability, and the role language plays in chiseling possibility and its rigid command of depiction. The collection expresses the aching of fathers, sons, uncles, grandfathers, all of whom would do well to join in and confront shared privileges that are typically curtailed or altogether avoided in conversation. Tender Headed entrusts the heart to be a compass, insisting on a journey unto itself and a melodic detour toward tenderness precise with its own footing.
The event will include a reading by the author, followed by a panel discussion along with Tyquan Morton, Jonathan Wynn and Christian Sinclair talking at length on themes noted in the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Originally from the West Side of Chicago, Olatunde Osinaike is a Nigerian American poet and software developer. He is the author of Tender Headed, selected by Camille Rankine for the 2022 National Poetry Series. He is the winner of the 2019 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize, a 2019 Frontier Poetry Industry Prize, and honorable mention for the 2019 Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Award in Poetry. His work has appeared in Best New Poets, New Poetry from the Midwest, Kweli Journal, Wildness, Southeast Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Atlanta.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
Christian Sinclair is the founder of Soul’d Creative Collective, a nonprofit organization dedicated to curating safe spaces for creatives. Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, his career has led him to Nashville where he has planted his creative roots. A passionate advocate for community engagement, creativity, and wellness, he has worked as a Communications and Community Relations Coordinator at the Frist Art Museum, and currently serves as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the Metro Public Health Department.
Jonathan Wynn is a former NFL player, who now is the co-founder of Soul’d Creative Collective, a prominent creative non-profit. Along with running Soul’d, he is an entrepreneur and a beloved barista at All People Coffee & Beverage Hall. His proudest accomplishment of all is becoming an author of the classic coming-of-age tale called Summer Juice. Since coming to Nashville on a Vanderbilt football scholarship in 2013, he have found excitement and a feeling of community living here. When he is not working hard on many of his creative ideas, you can find him hanging with friends, attending creative events, and journaling about his journey. To support his campaign, you can follow him on Instagram at @wayyback_wynn.
Tyquan Morton is a filmmaker, screenwriter, poet, and installation artist from Charleston, South Carolina. Morton's current work revolves around climate change and how it impacts Black spirituality and intimacy. Morton's work has been published in Wussy Mag, Good Juju Review: An Anthology, Fresh Ink Anthology, and a self-published chapbook, Remembering Pluto.