Central College and Pella Public Library welcome the award-winning author and performer Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey for a performance tonight.
The public is invited to An Evening with Caleb Rainey: The Heart of a Negro Artist at 7:00 this evening in the Cox-Snow Auditorium. His appearance will showcase a performance followed by an onstage interview by “Dr. Bob” Robert Leonard, KNIA/KRLS reporter.
Rainey is a performance poet who tackles everything from race relations in America to love and heartbreak. His debut book “Look, Black Boy” was awarded first prize in the North Street Book Prize, and his second book “Heart Notes” was published in 2019. In 2020, 2021 and 2022 he was named Best Poet/Spoken Word Performer in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. He is the winner of several slams across the United States, a 2019 finalist for the UNESCO City of Literature Global Poetry Slam – Iowa City and was featured on Button Poetry and Write About Now.
When he is not writing and performing, he is actively curating a community of spoken word poets in Iowa City through his creation of a high school program, IC Speaks, and producing local events like the Mic Check Poetry Festival.