April 2nd, 2026 (Updated May 11th) — Civitella was looking forward to welcoming the late Theo LeGro to the Castle this summer as the 2026 Lexi Rudnitsky/Persea Affiliated Fellow. We are saddened by their passing. Their book Don’t Let It Kill You (Persea Books) is their posthumous debut poetry collection, set for release on June 2nd, following their win of the 2025 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize.
About the Book
From hospital rooms to dive bars, Don’t Let It Kill You by Theo LeGro confronts the complexities of loss and mortality with ferocity and wit. These poems test the tension between survival and surrender, healing and destruction, where the body is a site of betrayal and forgiveness, pain and longing, where the frailties of the flesh lead to a haunting tenderness toward the self. With language that refuses to flinch or flatter, these poems tells the truth about sickness: How boring it is. How brutal. How sacred. The poems do not seek to inspire. They do not resolve. They testify.
Aching and defiant, Don’t Let It Kill You refuses to yield or comply, weaving between intergenerational trauma and incurable illness with biting lyricism to explore where desire and fear collide as proof of life and life is its own feral, sacred kind of rebellion.
April 9th Memorial Reading
A memorial reading celebrating Theo’s life will take place on their birthday, April 9th from 5-7 PM at Blinky’s (609 Grand St, Brooklyn). Learn more here and RSVP here.
May 30th Book Launch Event
Don’t Let It Kill You‘s launch event will be on Saturday, May 30th, at 6pm at Boyfriend Co-op in Bushwick (1157 Myrtle Ave).
June 2nd Zoom Publication Event
There will be an online event open to all on the book’s official publication date with readings by Andrea Ballou (CRF 2026), Molly McCully Brown (CRF 2017), Kimberly Grey (CRF 2016), Cynthia Marie Hoffman (DG 2011), Anni Liu (CRF 2022), Susannah Nevison (CRF 2015), Shawn R. Jones (CRF 2023), Valencia Robin (CRF 2024), Allison Seay (CRF 2013), Alexandra Teague (CRF 2019), Raisa Tolchinsky (CRF 2024), Emily Van Kley (CRF 2018), Sara Wainscott (DG 2024).
See below for the full details and link to join.
