Kiki Petrosino is writing Black Atlantic, a book of poetry contending with the complex legacies of slavery and racial discrimination in the Upper South, particularly Virginia and Kentucky. The project proceeds from genealogical research into the author’s ancestors’ enslavement and freedom in rural Virginia and encompasses her current life in Louisville, Kentucky.

Petrosino is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Witch Wife published by Sarabande in 2017.