PROJECTS
SELECTED PROJECTS
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Flowers For Linda
Audiozine
2021-
An audiozine (some call it “podcast”), created and hosted by me, Caits Meissner—named after my late gardener mom—about creative relationship, giving the living their flowers, and the surprising lessons of grief.
Listen now.
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Future Casting
for Lincoln Center
2021
Illustration commissioned by inaugural poet-in-residence Mahogany L. Browne for Lincoln Center’s WE ARE THE WORK series. Hand Cut Silhouette, Computer-Colored.
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The Sentences That Create Us:
Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison
PEN America Anthology
2022
“This is one of the best books on writing that I’ve ever read. I couldn’t put it down. There are millions of stories locked behind bars, along with the millions of people our nation has caged. This astonishing book has the power to set those stories free.”
—MICHELLE ALEXANDER, author of The New Jim Crow
A road map for incarcerated people and their allies to have a thriving writing life behind bars—and shared beyond the walls—that draws on the unique insights of more than fifty contributors, most themselves justice-involved, to offer advice, inspiration and resources.
Edited by Caits Meissner in her role as Prison and Justice Writing Director at PEN America, foreword by Reginald Dwayne Betts and published by Haymarket Books in 2022, The Mellon Foundation funded the free dissemination of 75,000 copies of the PEN America text into hands in prison across the United States.
Learn more here.
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New York Strange
Vignette Comic Series
2020
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Pep Talks For Broke(n) People
Poetry Comic Zine and Art Show
2020
"It's hard to describe Caits Meissner's comix-book-tractatus-philosophicus. On the most important level, it's personal declaration on how to live as a sentient, feeling human and not be overwhelmed. It's better than any self-help book out there."
— SAM PERKINS, poet and co-curator of the Bloom Reading Series
A “poetry comix zine” and interactive art show staged at Burl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop.
Preview a few comix from the pages sprinkled throughout this essay, “So Am I A Writer Yet?,” in The Creative Independent. Read reviews of Pep Talks in punk mainstays Razorcake or Broken Pencil or this student review. Read an interview with Fanbase Press or try your hand at poetry comix with this free 15 minute video lesson.
You can also download posters from the zine to print and wheatpaste in your community through Cover the Walls With Hope, Rage, Resources and Dreams.
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Let It Die Hungry
Illustrated Poetry Collection
2016
"A stunningly potent archive of surviving... Meissner believes in the powers of seeing, testifying, and saying what is most difficult. Running through the blood of this book I hear Audre Lorde's charge: ‘Your silence will not protect you.’”
— ARACELIS GIRMAY, author of The Black Maria
A poem collection sprinkled with the author's illustrations, the book's multidisciplinary approach also includes extensive writing prompts, originally created for use in a women's prison poetry class, that invite the reader to write their own way out of polarizing dichotomies — and into the vast grey space of what it means to be alive.
This book is available for download as an open-source publication, made possible by The Operating System. Originally published in 2016, the book is currently out of physical print.
Listed as an editor's pick on NewPages Book Stand, and a recommended book on Small Press Distribution, read reviews in New Pages Book Reviews, Columbia Journal, 3:AM Magazine, Hazel & Wren, or a book-specific interview on Tricycle Magazine's Trike Daily.
Download for free.
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Digging Deep, Facing Self
Writing Community
2014-2017
“Digging Deep, Facing Self helped me be more gentle with myself, helped me write more than what I am used to, helped me explore some of my fears/envy/loss. This course changed my life in ways I cannot articulate yet but feel it in my heart. You dive into your role as facilitator in ways that I wonder if you met us before, you held our hands but pushed us forward.”
— SONIA GUIÑANSACA, editor of SomeWhere We Are Human
An intensive online writing course supporting a community of diverse women in exploring artistic expression and profound self-examination. Directly engaged over 500 women worldwide in a month-long online curriculum that matured into publications and live experiences such as a State-sponsored cultural exchange in Malaysia, youth and prison programs and a series of public events that paired emerging and established women writers.
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The Livingroom Sessions
Webseries
2011
Unmasked, experiential glimpses into the lives of underground artists, and the settings in which they create, a webseries streamed on Coodie (jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy) and Chike’s CREATIVE CONTROL platform.
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The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You
Collaborative Poetry Book
2012
"After reading The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You I want to raise the window and scream I love you."
— CRAIG GANT, AKA muMs, poet and actor
Crowd-funded limited edition, out-of-print collaborative poetry book that explores a range of experience and emotion, mingling classic themes of love and war with ruminations on mixtapes, basketball and growing up with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Read a review in Pank Magazine; A Conversation with Caits and Tishon in the Used Furniture Review; Or an Interview with Caits and Tishon in Canteen Magazine.
Learn more about the project.
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the wolf & me
Poetry and Music Album
2010
"An impressive blend of poetry, singing and stellar production that takes on a variety of complexions... her potential is limitless."
— OKAYPLAYER
Executive Produced by Just Plain Ant, FEATURING Maya Azucena, Jesse Boykins III, Dunce Apprentice and Broke MC; with production by Blu, Cazeaux OSLO, Just Plain Ant, Bisco Smith, Cave and The Aftermath.
Listen on Spotify.
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The Saturday Performance Series
at the Lower Eastside Girls Club
2006-2008
