The Unquiet Country: An Evening of Poetry and Opera

Entre Ríos Books and Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum invite you to an evening of poetry and opera celebrating the debut collection, “The Unquiet Country,” by Seattle author Patrick Milian. Sopranos Susan Payne O’Brien and Clarice Alfonso will perform work created by composer Emerson Eads and commissioned specifically for this book, “A Prime Number of Lines for Lili & Nadia Boulanger.”  The evening will conclude with a wine reception.

"The Unquiet Country" explores the history and relationships of French sisters, pianists, and composers Lili and Nadia Boulanger. The collection isn't merely their poetic biography, but a queering of their biography, a contemplation on illness, fame, or its absence, and ultimately, power. It raises the question of how we can attain power for ourselves in a patriarchal and anti-queer society. In counterpoint with the Boulangers' lives, Milian employs a multi-vocal approach to delve into divas, femme-fatales, and his own history as a queer poz Cuban-American.…