Dasha Kelly Presents Baker's Dozen
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time
- Thursday, Dec 3, 2026 7pm - 8pm
Location & Parking
Subtext Books
6 W 5th St
Details
Join us at Subtext Bookstore on Thursday, December 3rd at 7 PM for an event with Wisconsin Poet Laureate Dasha Kelly, discussing her recent release Baker's Dozen with local artist and journalist, Robert Taliaferro Jr.
Shay Baker—daughter, close friend, photographer—suddenly takes her own life, the ghosts of unanswered questions and unresolved feelings haunting those who survive her. Left in her wake is a series of mysterious photos and letters, some sent to key figures in her life, others to only passing relationships. One recipient, Royal, cannot square what he knew of Shay with her ultimate end, and resolves to stitch together insights from others chosen by her, setting off a sequence of revelations each more shocking than the last. Part mystery, part study of our shared lessons on desire, Baker's Dozen reveals and unravels grief, family history, and the ties that bind.
"Dasha pulls off the magic trick every writer chases: she makes you fall in love with her characters.... I write TV and features for a living, so I’m supposed to tell you to watch something—but forget streaming for a night. Treat yourself to Baker’s Dozen." —Freddie Gutierrez, screenwriter for That Girl Lay Lay and Young Dylan
Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent, applying the creative process to facilitate dialogues around human and social wellness. She is the author of two novels, three poetry collections, four spoken word albums, and one collection of personal vignettes. She has taught at colleges, conferences, and classrooms and curated fellowships for emerging leaders. An Arts Envoy for the U.S. Embassy, Dasha has facilitated community building initiatives in Botswana, Toronto, Mauritius, and Beirut. Her touring production, Makin’ Cake, uniquely engages communities in a forward dialogue on race, class, and equity. Dasha is a national Rubinger Fellow and, concurrently, Poet Laureate for the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin.
Robert Taliaferro is a working journalist, graphic artist, and community activist currently living in Minnesota, after serving over 38 years of confinement. He edited The Prison Mirror newspaper at the Minnesota Correctional Institution at Stillwater from 1985-1989. His work is published in News and Letters Committees and he is the author of Always Color Outside the Lines: Freedom for the Artist Within (2018). He recently graduated from Metro State University in St Paul, MN where he was the Outstanding Student Award recipient for the College of Individualized Studies and also gave the Commencement address. He is beginning a graduate degree program in the fall and will be studying Urban Developmental Initiatives and Adult Education.
Registration is encouraged: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dasha-kelly-presents-bakers-dozen-tickets-2003010890493
