Poetry in the Galleries: An Interactive Evening and Book Signing with Jameela F. Dallis

Join us for a special evening with Durham poet and curator Jameela F. Dallis, who celebrates the release of her first poetry collection, Encounters for the Living and the Dead. 

Inspired by memory and desire, the richness of visual art, and the wonder of everyday encounters, Dallis’s collection engages the senses, invokes lost loves, the artist’s canvas, and the ocean—especially oysters. Her poems are for gourmands, artists, travelers, bons vivants, and other curious folk.  

The program takes place in the galleries, where Dallis reads poems from her book, including those inspired by works in the NCMA’s collection. An ekphrastic poem-writing activity, audience Q&A, and a post-event signing follow. Light refreshments will be served. 

About the poet
Jameela F. Dallis lives in Durham, NC. Her publications include poems, interviews, arts journalism, and literary scholarship in Feminist Studies, Honey Literary, The Fight and the Fiddle, Our State, Walter, The Bloomsbury Handbook to Toni Morrison, and elsewhere. She curated Material Encounters (Peel Gallery, Carrboro, March 2024), juried Scaffold (Artspace, Raleigh, April 2023), and has served on regional curatorial and fellowship committees. She’s taught dozens of university courses and facilitated creative workshops, including at the NCMA, for more than a decade. Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Dallis received her BA in English from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and holds both an MA and PhD. in English from UNC–Chapel Hill.