CD Eskilson, Cynthia Marie Hoffman

media release: A Room of One's Own is thrilled to welcome poets CD Eskilson and Cynthia Marie Hoffman to read for us, in celebration of Eskilson's newly released book of poems, Scream / Queen.

This is an in-person event at A Room of One's Own.

About the books

Scream / Queen: Poems

Through formally innovative poems populated by slasher-movie villains and campy horror creatures, Scream / Queen examines queerness, mental illness, and transgender identity. Though the current climate of trans panic and state legislation against trans bodies haunts the book, Scream / Queen ultimately conjures a world full of hope and tenderness. Here, an affirming journey of self-discovery emerges that celebrates all the body’s possibilities.

Exploding Head

Exploding Head is an unsettling, image-rich memoir-in-prose-poems chronicling a lifelong journey with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which began in childhood and continues through the present day, challenging the poet's relationship to motherhood, religion, and the larger world.

CD Eskilson is a trans nonbinary poet, editor, and literary translator. Their work appears in Kenyon Review, The Offing, Cincinnati Review, Passages North, and others. They are a recipient of the C.D. Wright / Academy of American Poets Prize and the Lily Peter Fellowship in Translation at the University of Arkansas, among other honors. Eskilson's debut poetry collection, Scream / Queen, is forthcoming from Acre Books and their translation of poet Edith Södergran’s groundbreaking 1916 collection, Modern Woman, will be published by World Poetry Books in 2026. Once, they were in a punk band.

Cynthia Marie Hoffman is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Exploding Head, an OCD memoir in prose poems. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Essays have appeared in TIME, The Sun, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Poems have appeared in Electric Literature, The Believer, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Cynthia lives in Madison, WI. www.cynthiamariehoffman.com.