2026 Transcendence Poetry Festival: Bobby Sanchez & TPA showcase

Join the 2026 Transcendence Poetry Festival for a special poetry showcase with two-spirit performer and writer Bobby Sanchez and local Trans Poetic Archive artists. Sanchez is a rapper, poet, and multidisciplinary artist rooted in Indigenous and queer identity. Raised on Lenape and Siwanoy land, with family from Ayacucho, Peru, her work channels this heritage into music that grapples with Indigenous survival, gender politics, environmental violence, and liberation. Bobby identifies as trans and Two-Spirit, and her art – whether rap, poetry, or performance – reflects lived experience.

Over the past several years, she has released multiple EPs blending hip-hop, spoken word, and political commentary, performed at major Pride stages and poetry slams, and has built a body of work that prioritizes community, decolonial thought, and honest storytelling. Bobby brings an intentional presence to movement spaces, using music not as entertainment, but as a way to tell the truth, hold grief and rage, and strengthen community.

There will be an opening Trans Poetics Archive poetry showcase featuring local trans and nonbinary poets who participate in TPA programs like the TPA BIPOC Fellowship, annual anthology publications or their monthly Second Rodeo Slam.  

The 2026 Transcendence Poetry Festival will take place September 24th-29th at multiple locations throughout Maine and is a project organized by Trans Poetics Archive. The festival consists of poet receptions, readings, performances, generative workshops, open mics, poetry slams, and a Poets & Scholars Panel – featuring Arisa White, Ian-Khara Ellasante, Bobby Sanchez & more! This program is fiscally supported by Onion Foundation and Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.

To stay up on events, visit www.transpoeticsarchive.org .