Nine Mile invites the public to Disability Futures, an evening of poetry celebrating disability culture, international literary exchange, and human rights. The reading features Finnish poet Sanni Purhonen and American poet Kenny Fries, with the program moderated by Stephen Kuusisto. The event will be held on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at Busboys and Poets, 450 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20001.
Disability Futures brings together two internationally recognized poets whose work confronts, reimagines, and expands the cultural meanings of disability. Purhonen, writing from Helsinki, and Fries, writing from Berlin, will read from their work as part of an ongoing commitment to fostering cross-cultural dialogue at the intersection of poetry and disability rights. Purhonen and Fries are two of the newest poets whose work has been published as part of the Propel Disability Poetry Book Series. The Propel Series honors the best in disability poetry with publication and awards.
Sanni Purhonen’s poems deal with embodiment, feminism, and disability rights. Among other things, she has published three poetry collections, as well as two poetic radio plays and a poetry video. Purhonen works as a literary critic, creative writing teacher, journalist, translator, and communications officer for the human rights organization, The Threshold Association.
Kenny Fries is the author of In the Province of the Gods (Creative Capital Literature Award); The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights)’; and Body, Remember: A Memoir. His books of poems include In the Gardens of Japan, Desert Walking, and Anesthesia. He edited Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out and curated Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, the first international exhibit on queer/disability history, activism, and culture (Schwules Museum Berlin). Twice a Fulbright Scholar (Japan and Germany), he has received a Rockefeller Center Bellagio Center Arts and Literary Arts Fellowship, was a Creative Arts Fellow of the Japan/US Friendship Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Culture Moves Europe, and the Berlin Senate. He is a Disability Futures Fellow of the Ford Foundation/Mellon Foundation/USA Artists.
Stephen Kuusisto is the author of the bestselling memoir Planet of the Blind and a professor at Syracuse University, where his work connects literary arts, disability studies, and human rights advocacy.
The event is free and open to the public. Busboys and Poets is a Washington institution known for its commitment to social justice, arts, and community. An RSVP is not required, but recommended: RSVP for this event.
Disability Futures is made possible through the generous support of Propel, the Poetry Foundation, and the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses.