Join us at Tombolo Books as we welcome author of Nextdoor in Colonialtown, Ryan Rivas as part of our ongoing poetry series with Gloria Muñoz!

In Nextdoor in Colonialtown, Rivas pairs photos of Orlando’s Colonialtown North neighborhood, where he has lived for over a decade, with conversations assembled from the area’s Nextdoor.com posts. The result is at turns absurd and abject, goofy and gothic, paranoid and profound. By displacing his familiar surroundings, Rivas evokes the broader White imaginary underlying colonialism and suburbanization.

Following Rivas's reading, he will be joined in a roundtable discussion by Dr. Sucheta Kanjilal, professor of South Asian studies at University of Tampa, and Laura Everitt, urban planner for Benesch.

This event is presented in partnership with the Sun Coast Section of the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Let us know we will see you there! RSVP HERE!

Ryan Rivas is the author of Nextdoor in Colonialtown (Autofocus 2022). He is the Publisher of Burrow Press, and the Coordinator of MFA Publishing at Stetson University's MFA of the Americas creative writing program. A Macondo Writers Workshop fellow, his work has appeared in The Believer, The Rumpus, Literary Hub, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012, and elsewhere.

Sucheta Kanjilal is a scholar of South Asian studies, whose work primarily interrogates colonialism, nationalism and modern Hinduism. Sucheta was born in New Delhi, India and educated in Mumbai, London, Minneapolis, and Tampa. After receiving her PhD at USF, Sucheta has been teaching at the University of Tampa since 2017.

Laura Everitt is an urban planner for Benesch, specializing in long-term transit planning. As a Tampa-based consultant for 15 years, she has had the opportunity to work with transit agencies across the Southeast to develop needs-based and cost-feasible transit plans. Laura has a Master’s degree in Urban & Environmental Planning and a law degree from the University of Virginia. She presently serves on her neighborhood board in the Hyde Park area of Tampa and is the Immediate Past President of the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association. When not working, you are likely to find Laura walking around her neighborhood with her husband Steve and dog Bourbon.