Even the Saints Audition

2019 Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago - Best New Poetry Collection Winner
2019 Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago - Best Poet Runner-Up

In Even the Saints Audition Raych Jackson Reconditions her body and reclaims her church.

This empowering book of poems interrogates the relationship between blackness, shame, and what it is to live a life tied to the church. Rich with historical context and a deeply engaging personal narrative. This body of work is bursting with charm, wit, and pride, as it dances on the thin line between saint and sinner.
Includes poems such as "Period Rules", “A Wasted Ass Shave”, and "I Ask What 'Circumcision' Means in a Full Sunday School Class" that have been watched by millions online

Advance praise for Even the Saints Audition

This is an important and brave book, one that keeps me asking for more.
-Fatimah Asghar, Author of IF THEY COME FOR US / co-creator of BROWN GIRLS

Jackson rearranges the scripture of God until it is a machine that works for her. Her bible blesses the ones who roam.
-Kara Jackson, Author of BLOODSTONE / National Youth Poet Laureate

This work is a sinner's diary, made of the secrets between pews, the notes beneath the hymns and the guilt writhing within desire.
-Toaster, Artist

Rachel “Raych” Jackson is a writer, educator and performer. While teaching in Chicago Public Schools for five years, she competed on numerous national poetry teams and individual competitions. She is the 2017 NUPIC Champion and a 2017 Pink Door fellow. Rachel recently voiced 'DJ Raych' in the game Mad Verse City. In October 2018 her latest play, Emotions and Bots, premiered at the Woerdz Festival in Lucerne Switzerland. She co-created the monthly poetry show Big Kid Slam. Rachel's work has been published by many―including Poetry Magazine, The Rumpus, and 29Rooms through Refinery29.