Yomi Sode and Miles Hodges: A Reflection on Shakespeare

September 16, 2016

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Shakespeare was a craftsman, the English language his medium, poetry his art. Much in the same way that he played with words, so too did he with the concept of masculinity. His characters challenged the gender norms of his society, his renderings pushed against the standards of his time. Spoken-word artists Yomi Sode and Miles Hodges honor the legacy of the master penman through their own plays on language and reflections on the notion of masculinity. Join the Library for a night of performance and poetry, a dialogue spanning four hundred years between the Bard and two 21st century men, riffing on what male identity means to them today. 

Yomi Sode is a London based poet and writer, whose work fuses culture, music, and humor.  He has opened for Saul Williams and The Last Poets, and appeared at Yahoo! Wireless Festival, Latitude, Streetfest, Lovebox, Olympic Village, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Away from the creative spotlight, Sodes has taught in schools, provided crisis mediation, and runs www.thedaddydiaries.org, a website dedicated to giving fathers the opportunity to build a support system with each other. It is a valuable contribution to the positive new wave of male perspectives and experiences, providing alternative viewpoints to what the word ‘masculinity’ can mean.

Miles Hodges  is a writer and performer from New York City. His original work has been featured on the acclaimed television series’ Verses and Flow (2012, 2013, 2014) and Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices (2009) on HBO. He has performed at renowned venues across the United States, such as The Apollo Theater and The Smithsonian, alongside the likes of laureates such as Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez.  Abroad, Miles taught and performed in Delhi, India as a poet-in-residence at the American Embassy School (2012) and in Port Au Prince, Haiti (2013) as a part of the Americorps relief effort.  Miles was a founding member of the performance collective The Strivers Row and was named one of TheRoot.com’s Top 100 Young Futurists. He co-directed the short film Fear And Other Things Moot (2015), an official selection of the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival, the New York International Film Festival, and the Marche Du Film at Cannes Film Festival. Miles is currently serving as a programming coordinator of The New York Public Library. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Harlem. 

Advance registration is recommended. Limited seating available upon request. 

Alcohol will be available for purchase. Must be 21 or over with valid photo ID. Please note photo ID must be provided at check-in.

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This event is part of Shakespeare Lives, a year-long global program celebrating the continuing resonance of Shakespeare around the world led by the British Council and the GREAT Britain campaign.

The British Council's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy commits us to ensuring that there is no unjustified discrimination in the recruitment of program participants on the basis of age, disability, gender including transgender, HIV/AIDS status, marital status including civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, political opinion, race/ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, spent convictions, trade union activity or membership, work pattern, having or not having dependents or any other irrelevant grounds.

We aim to abide by and promote equality legislation by following both the letter and the spirit of it to try and avoid unjustified discrimination, recognizing such discrimination as a barrier to equality of opportunity, inclusion and human rights.