What began as an offsite event for the 2017 AWP conference in Washington D.C. became a rallying point on Saturday, February 11th for over a thousand writers at Lafayette Park, across from the street from The White House. In today’s show you will hear from poets and writers Kazim Ali, Gabrielle Bellot, Melissa Febos, Carolyn Forché, Sanaz Fotouhi, Ross Gay, Luis J. Rodriguez, and Eric Sasson with minimal edits for time and program continuity.

Prior to the Vigil, Citizen Lit sat down with one of the event organizers, Split This Rock executive director Sarah Browning, to talk about importance and impact of such public gatherings.

Note: transcriptions for each speaker are available on Split This Rock's blog: http://blogthisrock.blogspot.com/search/label/candlelight%20vigil