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Declaration Deep Dive Closing Keynote: Dr. Antoinette Brim-Bell
June 14, 2026 · 3 p.m.
Garden House
Free
Join us on June 14 for the Closing Keynote program of the "Declaration Deep Dive" series, a collaboration between KTM&HC and Ridgefield Library to commemorate America 250.
Dr. Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut's eighth Poet Laureate and a professor of English at CT State Community College, Capital, will read and discuss an original poem that engages with the traditions of inaugural poetry to envision our nation's future.
Held at KTM&HC's Garden House, this program is free for all. Registration is required.
Antoinette Brim-Bell (Antoinette Brim), Connecticut’s 8th State Poet Laureate, is the author of three full-length poetry collections: These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. Her poetry has appeared in various journals, magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, as well as in Poetry Magazine and Poem-a-Day. Brim-Bell has also published critical works, “The Myopic Eye in Alice Walker’s ‘Flowers’” (Critical Insights: Alice Walker, Salem Press) and “Juxtaposed Dichotomies: the idealized white suburban pastoral, the surrealist tableau of Black Poverty & the Women in between” (The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience and Change Agent, Haymarket Books). Brim-Bell has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for both poetry and essay. She is a Cave Canem Foundation Fellow and an alum of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA).
Brim-Bell hosted a series of Black History Month television programs for the OneWorld Progressive Institute. She is also a former guest host of Patrick Oliver’s Literary Nation Talk Radio (KABF 88.3, Little Rock), for which she interviewed a variety of entertainers, literary figures, political pundits, and community developers. Additionally, In Her Image, a ballet based on Brim-Bell's These Women You Gave Me, choreographed by Sarah Grace and commissioned by the New England Ballet Theatre, was performed in Connecticut and on the renowned Alvin Ailey stage in New York City.
A sought-after speaker, editor, educator, and consultant, Brim-Bell is a Professor of English at CT State Community College, Capital. www.antoinettebrimbell.com
Support for America 250 in Ridgefield: A Deep Dive into the Declaration of Independence is provided by CT Humanities as part of its America 250 CT program. Additional promotional support provided by Ridgefield Commemorates America at 250.
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