TOY SOLDIERS, Army of Giants: A Reading – New York, NY

P&T Knitwear is pleased to welcome MICHAEL CHANG and Matthew Rohrer to celebrate the release of their newest poetry collections — TOY SOLDIERS and Army of Giants — with a reading, conversation, and audience Q&A!

From the author of ALMANAC OF USELESS TALENTS (“superb” — Patrick Donnelly) and SYNTHETIC JUNGLE (“nothing short of exquisite” — Diana Khoi Nguyen) comes TOY SOLDIERS: a new collection “reminiscent of the second generation of The New York School of Poets…a collision between the quotidian, popular culture and interpretive history.” (Airea D. Matthews)

A book of formally audacious poems that manage “an alluring tranquility…even through the clamor of war, garbage trucks, stolen cars, and crying babies” (Michael Brodeur, The Boston Globe), Matthew Rohrer’s new collection offers readers a diverse meditation on the ways in which the physical world intersects, overlaps, and informs the universe of the imagination.

After the event, MICHAEL and Matthew will be signing copies of TOY SOLDIERS and Army of Giants.

• This is a ticketed in-store event with limited amphitheater-style seating
• Cost of a $5 general admission ticket can be applied towards your purchase of the featured event book or any product in our café the night of an event.
• We encourage all guests to wear masks.
• The talk will be followed by a book signing. Books signed at P&T Knitwear events must be purchased from P&T Knitwear. If you would like a signed copy and cannot attend the event, we’re happy to take your pre-order. We ship most places!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) is the author of SYNTHETIC JUNGLE (Northwestern University Press, 2023), TOY SOLDIERS (Action, Spectacle, 2024) & THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House Books, 2025). They edit poetry at Fence.

Matthew Rohrer is the author of Army of Giants (Wave Books, 2024), The Sky Contains the Plans (Wave Books, 2020), The Others (Wave Books, 2017), which was the winner of the 2017 Believer Book Award; Surrounded by Friends (Wave Books, 2015), Destroyer and Preserver (Wave Books, 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), Rise Up (Wave Books, 2007) and A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Satellite (Verse Press, 2001), and co-author, with Joshua Beckman, of Nice Hat. Thanks. (Verse Press, 2002), and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and The Next Big Thing. His first book, A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver in 1994. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at NYU. He can be reached at luminousfork@gmail.com.