An Afternoon with Dean Rader, Timothy Donnelly, and Shanta Lee Gander
2023-05-21 16:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Hudson Valley Writers Center, 300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY, 10591, United States
From the organizers:
“Join us in person or via Zoom as we welcome Dean Rader, Timothy Donnelly, and Shanta Lee Gander. They will read from their latest works and engage in a lively Q&A.
This event will take place on May 21 from 4:00 – 6:30pm EST at the Hudson Valley Writers Center and live on Zoom.”
To register, visit: https://www.writerscenter.org/calendar/donnelly-gander-rader/

Natalie Diaz and Adam Falk at Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises
2023-05-23 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
From the organizers:
“THE POET AND ORATOR at the 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises—the traditional, academic opening event of Harvard’s Commencement-week celebrations—will be Natalie Diaz and Adam Falk, Ph.D. ’91. They are scheduled to appear on Tuesday morning, May 23, in Sanders Theatre.
The Literary Exercises (this will be the 231st iteration) celebrate undergraduate academic excellence, recognize outstanding students’ nominees for formative teaching, and typically nod toward the arts (the poet) and the wider society (the orator). They thus bridge the academic labors leading up to graduation, and the celebratory hoopla to follow two days later, in Tercentenary Theatre.”

Close Readings in a Virtual Space with Christopher Soto
2023-06-01 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | online
From the organizers:
“This free, participatory event (taking place via Zoom) features Christopher Soto, one of our favorite poets, leading an intimate, virtual group thinking-and-reading-through of “tercer poema de amor / Third Poem of Love” by Roque Dalton. Neither explicitly teaching nor explaining, our special guest poet will serve as your expert tour-guide to explore this featured poem as a group.
Whether already well-versed in the close reading of poems or having never been quite sure you’ve been ‘getting it,’ Close Readings in a Virtual Space provides a digital gathering for taking a refreshing deep dive into poetry.
Actively participate or simply listen and learn!
The event will last about an hour and conclude with a brief reading of poetry by our special guest poet.
To purchase your FREE ticket, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/close-readings-in-a-virtual-space-with-christopher-soto-tickets-588445364927“

Community of Writers Poetry Program taught by Victoria Chang, Kazim Ali, Forrest Gander, Carmen Giménez, Brenda Hillman, and Evie Shockley
2023-06-19 - 2023-06-25 | Palisades Tahoe, CA, 96146, United States
From the organizers:
“The Poetry Program at the Community of Writers is founded on the belief that when poets gather in a community to write new poems, each poet may well break through old habits and write something stronger and truer than before. To help this happen we work together to create an atmosphere in which everyone might feel free to try anything. In the mornings we meet in workshops to read to each other the work of the previous twenty-four hours; each participant also has an opportunity to work with each staff poet. In the late afternoons we gather for a conversation about some aspect of craft. On several afternoons staff poets hold brief individual conferences. Director: Brenda Hillman.
Tuition for the Poetry Program is $1450 and includes six evening meals. Financial aid is available; requests for our limited financial aid can be made in the Application Form. Admissions are based on submitted manuscripts. Please Note: Tuition does not include housing costs. See Housing and Meals. See Fees & Deadlines, below.
Note: We make no admissions decisions before all the submissions have been read and evaluated. The Application Form link is at the bottom of the page.
Deadline for receipt of application/submission is March 28, 2023.”
Apply here: https://communityofwriters.org/workshops/poetry-application/

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Award Ceremony and Reception with keynote speaker, Chris Abani
2023-06-24 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Chicago) | American Writers Museum, 180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
From the organizers:
“Celebrate the winners of the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction during a special award ceremony at the American Writers Museum in Chicago. Presented by Booklist and RUSA and generously supported by NoveList and a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, this year’s show will honor winners Julie Otsuka and Ed Yong and will feature acclaimed novelist and poet, Chris Abani, as the keynote speaker. The event will kick off with a cocktail hour and close with a reception and book signing.”
This event will take place on Saturday, June 24 from 7:00pm – 10:00pm CST. Register for the ALA Conference here: https://idpv3.ala.org/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO?execution=e1s2
Include the Andrew Carnegie Medals Award Ceremony with your initial registration, or add it later using the unique link in your email confirmation.

Hudson Valley Writer's Center presents: An Afternoon to Celebrate New Poetry with Randall Mann and others
2023-07-16 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | CA
Hudson Valley Writer’s Center presents: An Afternoon to celebrate new poetry collections with Randall Mann, Glenis Redmond, Enzo Silon Surin, and Dustin Brookshire, & Courtney LeBlanc (via Zoom)
From the organizers: Join Jennifer Franklin, Program Director & Sophia Bannister, Programming Assistant & Social Media Director, as we welcome Randall Mann, Glenis Redmond, Enzo Silon Surrin, and Courtney LeBlanc to read and discuss their new poetry collections.
NB: This reading will take place on Zoom. The link will be sent to the email that you use to register as soon as you reserve a spot. (Please check your spam folder and save the link to your calendar.) It will also be sent to you the day of the reading for your convenience.
More information will appear here: https://www.writerscenter.org/calendar/newpoetry/

International Literary Salon in Santa Fe: Arthur Sze, Ryo Yamaguchi & Others
2023-08-13 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Denver) | La Mama, 225 E Marcy St, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, United States
From the organizers:
Words Without Borders is excited to partner with LA MAMA in Santa Fe for a summer afternoon of literature—local and international. Santa Fe-based writers and translators Kareem Abu-Zeid, Arthur Sze, Christina Vo, and Ryo Yamaguchi will be reading their own work as well as the translated writing of contemporary authors from across the globe: Najwan Darwish (tr. Kareem Abu-Zeid), Wang Jiaxin (tr. Arthur Sze), Claudia Masin (tr. Robin Myers), Iryna Shuvalova (self-translated), Bùi Ngọc Tấn (tr. Nguyễn-Hoàng Quyên), Wang Xiaoni (tr. Arthur Sze), and Isabel Zapata (tr. Robin Myers).
Ticketing and accessibility information
Please RSVP on Eventbrite. Once tickets run out, you may sign up for the waitlist. If you are released a ticket from the waitlist, you will have 8 hours to claim the ticket before it’s offered to another person.
This is a free, all-ages event with limited space and seating (stools and benches) located up a stairway at LA MAMA. This is not a wheelchair accessible event. Delicious food and drink will be available for sale at LA MAMA.
About the readers
Kareem James Abu-Zeid, PhD, is an Egyptian-American translator of poets and novelists from across the Arab world who translates from Arabic, French, and German. His translation of the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish’s Exhausted on the Cross was the winner of the 2022 Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation, as well as a finalist for the PEN America Award, the National Translation Award, and the Derek Walcott Prize. He has received a residency from Santa Fe’s Lannan Foundation, and is also the author of the book The Poetics of Adonis and Yves Bonnefoy: Poetry as Spiritual Practice (Lockwood Press, 2021).
Arthur Sze has published eleven books of poetry, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2021); Sight Lines, which won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry; Compass Rose (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist; The Ginkgo Light (2009), selected for the PEN Southwest Book Award and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Book Award; Quipu (2005); The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998, selected for the Balcones Poetry Prize and the Asian-American Literary Award; and Archipelago (1995), selected for an American Book Award. He has also published one book of Chinese poetry translations, The Silk Dragon (2001), selected for the Western States Book Award, and edited Chinese Writers on Writing (2010). In the spring of 2024, The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry will be published by Copper Canyon Press. Sze is the recipient of many honors, including a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, the 2021 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lannan Literary Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and five grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Christina Vo is a writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she continues to write and explore the interplay of culture, identity, and personal history. Her work reflects her commitment to understanding and sharing the complexities of the human experience. Christina’s debut memoir, The Veil Between Two Worlds: A Memoir of Silence, Loss, and Finding Home, demonstrates her ability to weave personal experiences into broader narratives about identity, home, and belonging. Her second book, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam, an intergenerational memoir co-written with her father, will be published in May 2024. Christina attempts to carve out time to focus on her personal writing, while spending her days working as a donor relations writer for Stanford University. She has worked internationally for UNICEF in Vietnam, the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, as well served as a consultant for nonprofits. Christina holds an MSc in social and public communication from the London School of Economics.
Ryo Yamaguchi (he/him) is the publicist for Copper Canyon Press. He is the author of the poetry collection The Refusal of Suitors, published by Noemi Press. His poems have recently been anthologized in The Best American Poetry 2020 and The Best Small Fictions 2020 and have also recently appeared in journals such as the Bennington Review, the Yalobusha Review, and The Volta, among others. Ryo has been a staff critic for Harriet Books from the Poetry Foundation, and his other critical writings can be found in outlets such as Jacket2, the Kenyon Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.

The Community of Writers Presents A Short Course: C.D. Wright — An American Original
2023-08-31 16:00 - 2023-09-28 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
From the organizers:
“The Community of Writers is honored to present a five-week intensive series on the life and work of poet C.D. Wright taught by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander and Griffin Poetry Prize-winning poet Brenda Hillman. Gander and Hillman will guide participants through an overview of Wright’s extraordinary writing. The course will be designed for those who know Wright’s work already, as well as for those encountering her poetry for the first time.
Classes will take place every Thursday from August 31st – September 28th at 4:00 – 6:00pm PDT. For those who are interested, intimate Zoom discussion groups (Virtual Houses) will meet after each session and on subsequent Saturdays at 10:00am.”
To register, visit: https://communityofwriters.org/register-for-the-short-course-on-c-d-wright/

I Love NY presents Book launch for Dream Apartment with Lisa Olstein featuring Diane Seuss
2023-09-13 19:00 (America/New_York) | CA
I Love NY presents Book launch for Dream Apartment with Lisa Olstein featuring Diane Seuss on September 13 at 7 PM ET
From the organizers:
Please join Jennifer Franklin & Diane Seuss as they help Lisa Olstein launch her fifth poetry collection, Dream Apartment (September, 2023, Copper Canyon). NB: This reading will be on Zoom. The link will be sent to the email that you use to register. (Please check your spam folder). Our readings are free and open to the public. Please consider making a donation towards the poets’ honorarium and, if you like their work, buying their book. Lisa Olstein is the author of five poetry collections published by Copper Canyon Press: Radio Crackling, Radio Gone (2006), Lost Alphabet (2009), Little Stranger (2013), Late Empire (2017), and Dream Apartment (2023). Her nonfiction includes Pain Studies (Bellevue Literary Press 2020), a book-length lyric essay exploring the intersection of pain, perception, and language; and Climate (Essay Press 2022), an exchange of epistolary essays with the poet Julie Carr. Diane Seuss needs no introduction. She is the author of six books of poetry. Her most recent collection is frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press 2021), winner of the PEN/Voelcker Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
More information will appear here: https://www.iloveny.com/event/lisa-olstein%E2%80%99s-book-launch-for-dream-apartment-with-special-guest-diane-seuss-(via-zoom)/64887/

University of Arizona Poetry Center Presents: The Seductions of Voice with Paisely Rekdal
2023-09-20 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Phoenix) | The University of Arizona Poetry Center, 1508 East Helen Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, United States
From the organizers:
What is “voice” in poetry, and how have our ideas of what constitutes the lyric voice historically evolved? When it comes to first-person poems, are we really just speaking for ourselves or as part of a collective? How does voice determine how we understand the difference between a poem’s addressee versus its audience? How do our ideas about “voice” and audience themselves change in persona poems? And finally, how do we cultivate readerly sympathy or trust with choices we make around voice? In this class, we’ll look at a range of poems that we might call “voice-driven,” from François Villon, William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to Randall Jarrell, Frank O’Hara, Terrance Hayes, Myung-Mi Kim, and Diane Seuss to consider the many lyric possibilities of “voice.” In-class exercises will be provided to help students generate new work.
Meeting will take place in the Poetry Center’s Alumni Room, Room 205; limit 12 students. General registration will open on Tuesday, August 29th at 10AM.

University of Arizona Poetry Center Presents: A Reading with Paisley Rekdal
2023-09-21 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Phoenix) | The University of Arizona Poetry Center, 1508 East Helen Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, United States
From the organizers:
We are proud to present a reading by Paisley Rekdal.
Paisley Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction, and seven books of poetry, including Nightingale, Appropriate: A Provocation, and, most recently, West: A Translation. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, Pushcart Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah poet laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah where she is a distinguished professor.
The reading will be livestreamed on the website in addition to the in person reading.

UMass English MFA Presents Lisa Olstein, Visiting Writers Series
2023-09-28 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Old Chapel, 144 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA, 01002, United States
UMass English MFA for Poets & Writers Presents Lisa Olstein, Visiting Writers Series on Thursday September 28th 6:00pm – 7:30pm Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“Celebrating 60 Years of the UMass English MFA for Poets & Writers
Visiting Writers Series no. 1 // Fall 2023
Join us for the first installment of the Visiting Writers Series (VWS) with UMass MFA alum, LISA OLSTEIN.
Free & open to the public. Reading with Q&A to follow.”
For more information: https://www.umass.edu/englishmfa/event/visiting-writers-series-lisa-olstein

Open Books Presents Christopher Soto & Claudia Castro Luna, Latinx Poetry Writing Workshop
2023-09-30 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Open Books: A Poem Emporium, 108 Cherry Street, Seattle, WA, 98104, United States
Open Books Presents Christopher Soto & Claudia Castro Luna, Latinx Poetry Writing Workshop on Saturday September 30th at 2pm – 3:30pm Pacific Time
From the Organizers:
“This poetry workshop is free, but space is limited! To RSVP, email instructor Christopher Soto directly at cs3625@nyu.edu and send 1-3 poems. Class will begin at 2pm and will run for 1.5 hours in the Open Books Parlor.
If you have any additional questions about the workshop, please contact Christopher Soto at cs3625@nyu.edu!”
For more information visit: https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/pages/9-30-2-3-30pm-latinx-poetry-writing-workshop-with-christopher-soto-claudia-castro-luna

Cambridge Center Presents Cate Marvin and Marcus Wicker, Blacksmith House Poetry Series
2023-10-02 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Cambridge Center for Adult Education Presents Cate Marvin and Marcus Wicker, Blacksmith House Poetry Series on Monday October 2nd 8:00pm-9:00pm Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“Cate Marvin, whose most recent collection is Event Horizon, reads with Marcus Wicker, author of Silencer.
Founded in 1973, the award-winning Blacksmith House Poetry Series brings established and emerging writers of poetry and fiction to Harvard Square. All readings take place in person at 56 Brattle Street on Mondays at 8pm. Admission is $5 and tickets are available at the door.”
For more information visit: https://ccae.org/happenings/events/blacksmith-house-poetry-series-cate-marvin-and-dana-levin

Folger Shakespeare Library Presents Jorie Graham for The O. B. Hardison Season Opening Reading
2023-10-03 19:30 (America/New_York) | CA
Folger Shakespeare Library Presents Jorie Graham for The O. B. Hardison Season Opening Reading on Tue, Oct 03, 2023, 7:30pm Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Jorie Graham opens the season reading from her new work. Congressman Jamie Raskin moderates the post-reading conversation.
Please note that this event will be presented via virtual platform in Eastern Time (ET). Access links will be included in a performance reminder email closer to the event.

Tickets are Pay What You Will, starting at $5, priced to make them accessible to all. Pay the price that you can afford, all of which goes toward supporting future programs.”
To register for the event go to: https://www.folger.edu/whats-on/ob-hardison-season-opening-reading-jorie-graham/

An Evening of Poetry with Alison C. Rollins
2023-10-04 17:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Presented by Copper Canyon Press on Wednesday October 4th 5:15pm Pacific Time
You are invited to join us for an evening of poetry and conversation to celebrate the brilliant forthcoming collection Black Bell by Alison C. Rollins.
Inspired by the nineteenth century image of an enslaved woman wearing iron horns and bells, Black Bell continues an exploration of cataloging individual experience and collective memory. Within its pages, Alison places history before us by integrating sonics, metalwork, and performance art practices until language becomes performance.
Co-hosted by Copper Canyon editors Michael Wiegers and Ashley E. Wynter, this virtual benefit will feature Alison performing poems from Black Bell and offers you an exclusive look into her creative process. Alison is a phenomenal reader and performer—you will not want to miss this early-access peek into Black Bell!
You will also be given the opportunity to make your gift in support of this stunning new collection. Please join us!
Register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wEGgCJ8kRLiK_o7eX8q4JA#/registration

NYU Presents Cate Marvin and Vievee Francis, Poetry Reading
2023-10-06 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Lilliann Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th St., New York,, NY, 10011
NYU Presents Cate Marvin and Vievee Francis for a poetry reading on Friday, October 6th 5:00pm-7:00pm Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“Poetry readings by Vievee Francis and Cate Marvin, followed by a reception/signing.
Open to the public. All attendees are required to RSVP in advance.
While NYU has ended COVID-19 related restrictions and policies, we continue to remind and recommend to members of the NYU community that they stay up-to-date on their boosters, they stay home if they feel sick, and masks are always welcome.
The Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House is not currently wheelchair accessible.”
To register visit: https://as.nyu.edu/departments/cwp/reading-series/fall-2023/poetry-reading–vievee-francis–dana-levin-and-cate-marvin.html

Alta presents Forrest Gander and Tayi Tibble
2023-10-11 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Alta
Alta presents Forrest Gander and Tayi Tibble at 12:30 PM on Wednesday, October 11th
From the organizers:
“Forrest Gander and Tayi Tibble may be separated by continents (and decades), but this pair of writers are connected by their mutual devotion to the poet’s life. Their individual bodies of work reflect an urgency and a desire to welcome readers into the intimate parts of their minds—or at least to get those parts on the page. Join us for their conversation about poetry’s intersections with embodiment and provocative emotions, and a deep dive into how translation and language play a role in their work, as part of Alta Live’s Writers on Writers series and our Issue 25, The Writers Issue.”
Register here: https://altaonline.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BkmoxswAR6GgP8Rin3MWFA#/registration

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference with Victoria Chang, Patricia Spears Jones, and Fady Joudah
2023-10-12 - 2023-10-14 | Old Main at Arizona State University, 400 E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States
From the organizers:
Desert Nights, Rising Stars, DNRS, Writers Conference is a gathering of hearts and minds.
This three-day writing conference put on by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing focuses on the art and craft of writing and also offers practical advice for editing, getting published and navigating the literary marketplace. The conference offers over 60 presenters — all noted published writers and over 70 sessions, a mixture of workshops, panels and readings.
Conference early bird rate is $225. Deep discounts are offered for Arizona educators, seniors, military and people with disabilities. ASU students can attend for a discounted rate of only $35.00.
Our 2023 keynote speaker is internationally renowned poet, Joy Harjo, who served three terms at the Twenty-third Poet Laureate of the United States.
~
Copper Canyon Poets Victoria Chang, Patricia Spears Jones, and Fady Joudah will be presenting. Register at the website to attend.

Litquake presents Dean Rader, Randall Mann, and more for Poetry World Series
2023-10-12 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd, San Francisco, CA, 94110, United States
Litquake presents Dean Rader, Randall Mann, and more for the Poetry World Series on Thursday, October 12 · 7:30pm PDT
From the organizers:
“Two teams of award-winning poets, including Kim Addonizio, Zeina Hashem Beck, Lee Herrick, Randall Mann, Christell Victoria Roach, and Dean Rader, take turns batting at topics pitched to them by the audience. Fastballs, curveballs, knuckleballs: these poets won’t know what’s coming next! Hilarity and stunning work guaranteed. Eminently qualified umpires will score each batter’s reading, and the winning team takes the series title. Don’t forget to bring a topic to stump the poets with! Emceed by Litquake’s Jack Boulware. Book sales/signing follows the reading. Doors open at 7pm, show at 7:30pm. $10 adv / door”
Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-world-series-litquake-edition-tickets-709824493167

50th Anniversary Reading with Jericho Brown, Paisley Rekdal, and Arthur Sze
2023-10-19 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Denver) | Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, United States
Presented by Copper Canyon Press and Lannan Foundation
The Lensic Performing Arts Center
211 W. San Francisco Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

$8 Adult / $5 Senior and Student
More information at The Lensic

Some of the most important poets writing today come together at the Lensic and via Livestream to celebrate two institutions that have had an outsized role in sustaining the artform for more than half a century: Copper Canyon Press and Lannan Foundation. Marking Copper Canyon Press’s 50th anniversary as an independent publisher dedicated to poetry, this reading by Pulitzer Prize winners and Poets Laureate testifies to poetry’s remarkable adaptability. Jericho Brown will deliver innovative poetic forms that express the pain—and beauty—of Black and queer life. And Paisley Rekdal will present hybrid text-and-media works that reexamine the history of the West through the stories of the laborers who built it.
National Book Award winner and longtime Santa Fe resident Arthur Sze will open the event with a discussion of the history of Lannan Foundation and Copper Canyon Press and their importance to American literature. Copper Canyon Executive Editor Michael Wiegers will then introduce the readers, joining all the participants afterward in a closing conversation about poetry’s continued importance as we face the future.
This event will also be livestreamed.
Participant Bios:
“By some literary magic―no, it’s precision, and Brown manages to bestow upon even the most public of subjects the most intimate and personal stakes.”—NPR
Jericho Brown is the author of three collections of poems, most recently The Tradition, which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is the recipient of several fellowships from institutions such as the Guggenheim and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown is currently the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing.
“Rekdal is a poet of observation and history. . . . She revels in detail but writes vast, moral poems that help us live in a world of contraries. . . . These are some of the best lyric poems being written today.”—Los Angeles Times
Paisley Rekdal is the author of three works of nonfiction and several collections of poetry, most recently a poetry and multimedia work called West: A Translation, which was recently longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets, among others. She is Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah, where she directs the American West Center, and she has served as Utah’s state Poet Laureate.
“Sze is simultaneously the microscope and telescope of the poetry world. And more. To truly attend to these poems is to begin to feel like you have been opened to a kaleidoscopic experience of the cosmos, a multisensual one whose kinetic foci gather moments across time and space, word and world.”—Terrain
Arthur Sze has published eleven books of poetry, including Sight Lines, which won the National Book Award, Compass Rose, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and, most recently, The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems. Sze is the recipient of many honors, including the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, a Lannan Literary Award, fellowships from the Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. A Chancellor Emeritus at the Academy of American Poets and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts and was the first Poet Laureate of Santa Fe. His latest work, The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry, will be published by Copper Canyon in 2024.
“Copper Canyon Press may be a little nonprofit publisher far from New York, but over the last 50 years, its editors in Port Townsend, Washington, have shaped and elevated American poetry.”—Washington Post
Michael Wiegers has been editing books for Copper Canyon Press since 1993, and currently serves as the Press’s Executive Editor/Editor in Chief. Most recently, he edited two anthologies of Copper Canyon Press poetry, both published this year: A House Called Tomorrow: 50 Years of Poetry and Come Shining: More Poems and Stories from Fifty Years of Copper Canyon Press. He is also the poetry editor of Narrative magazine and edited What About This: The Collected Poems of Frank Stanford, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Essential W.S. Merwin. He is currently at work on a book about the poet W.S. Merwin and serves as a trustee for the Merwin Conservancy.
Register for the livestream here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G3l0TwKcSPeTse-Up6eg7w#/registration

*UPDATE (October 05)*: We regret that Jorie Graham is no longer able to participate in this event, as originally listed.

CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE featuring Deborah Landau
2023-10-20 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE featuring Deborah Landau on Friday October 20th 12-1pm PDT
From the organizers:
“This free, participatory event (taking place via Zoom) features Deborah Landau, one of our favorite poets, leading an intimate, virtual group thinking-and-reading-through of “Curriculum Vitae” by Lisel Mueller. Neither explicitly teaching nor explaining, our special guest poet will serve as your expert tour-guide to explore this featured poem as a group.

Whether already well-versed in the “close reading” of poems or having never been quite sure you’ve been “getting it,” CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE provides a digital gathering for taking a refreshing deep dive into poetry.
Actively participate or simply listen and learn!
The event will last about an hour and conclude with a brief reading of poetry by our special guest poet.”
To get tickets go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/close-readings-in-a-virtual-space-with-deborah-landau-tickets-694164513747

Elliott Bay Book Company Presents FREEMAN’S Launch with John Freeman, Deborah Landau, and Sasha LaPointe
2023-10-23 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Elliot Bay Book Company
Elliott Bay Book Company Presents FREEMAN’S Launch with John Freeman, Deborah Landau, and Sasha LaPointe on Monday October 23rd, 2023 @ 6:00PM – 7:00 PM Pacific Time. Additionally followed by readings with Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Sasha LaPointe, and Deborah Landau from their recently released collections.
From the organizers:
“Editor John Freeman launches the latest issue of Freeman’s, this time with the theme Conclusions. Poet Deborah Landau and local author Sasha LaPointe will join him onstage for a reading.
The tenth and final installment of the boundary-pushing literary journal Freeman’s explores all the ways of coming to an end.
Over the course of ten years, Freeman’s has introduced the English-speaking world to countless writers of international import and acclaim, from Olga Tokarczuk to Valeria Luiselli, while also spotlighting brilliant writers working in English, from Tommy Orange to Tess Gunty. Now, in its last issue, this unique literary project ponders all the ways of reaching a fitting conclusion.
With new writing from Sandra Cisneros, Colum McCann, Omar El Akkad, and Mieko Kawakami, Freeman’s: Conclusions is a testament to the startling power of literature to conclude in a state of beauty, fear, and promise.”
At 7:30pm, join poets Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Sasha LaPointe, and Deborah Landau for readings from their recently released collections.
For more information: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/events/20231023

Cambridge Center Presents Randall Mann and Daniel Brock Johnson, Blacksmith House Poetry Series
2023-10-23 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
Cambridge Center Presents Randall Mann and Daniel Brock Johnson, Blacksmith House Poetry Series on Monday, October 23rd 8-9pm Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“Randall Mann reads from his new book, DEAL: New and Selected Poems, with Daniel Johnson, author of Shadow Act.
Founded in 1973, the award-winning Blacksmith House Poetry Series brings established and emerging writers of poetry and fiction to Harvard Square. All readings take place in person at 56 Brattle Street on Mondays at 8pm. Admission is $5 and tickets are available at the door.”

Rose Theatre Presents Red Pine at Premiere of the Film "Dancing with the Dead"
2023-10-27 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Rose Theatre, 235 Taylor Street, Port Townsend, WA, 98368, United States
World Gala Premiere of Dancing with the Dead including Q&A with Director, Ward Serrill and a reading by Bill Porter (Red Pine) on Friday October 27th at 7pm PT
From the organizers:
“We are so excited to be hosting the World Premiere Gala of DANCING WITH THE DEAD and hope you will join us on October 27th for this special event. Tickets are $20 and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 11th at 3:30pm.
Includes Q&A with Ward, a reading by Bill Porter (Red Pine), a surprise guest and mini-posters of the film for all attendees.
Filmmakers Ward Serrill and Rocky Friedman (The Bowmakers) present DANCING WITH THE DEAD,on Port Townsend’s Bill Porter. Porter, who goes by the pen name Red Pine, is a renowned translator of ancient Chinese poetry. He has published over thirty books, including Road to Heaven, his quest to find hermits in the Zhongnan Mountains that reignited a movement in modern China to seek enlightenment through poetry and mountain solitude. Bill is a living gateway to ancient Chinese history and culture. The film follows Bill’s adventures as a child of a bank robber, raised in a gilded household, who turned his back on American devotion to materialism and went off to live in monasteries and mountains in Taiwan. He pursued a fascination with Buddhism and poetry and traveled to remote regions of China to rediscover an ancient tradition of mountain hermits vital to Chinese culture.”
Purchase tickets here: https://rosetheatre.com/film/dancing-with-the-dead

PSNY Features Deborah Landau, T﻿errance Hayes, Timothy Donnelly and more at First Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball
2023-10-28 20:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | The Strand’s Rare Book Room, 826 Broadway, New York, NY, 10003, United States
PSNY’s First Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball features Deborah Landau, Terrance Hayes, Timothy Donnelly and more on Saturday October 28th 8pm-11pm ET
From the organizers:
“To all poets, poetry lovers, and poets-to-be: look no further for your dream spooky season soiree! Join The Poetry Society of New York for our first ever Masquerade Spectacular on October 28th, from 8:00-11:00pm at the historic Strand’s Rare Book Room!
This Halloweekend extravaganza will be the platonic ideal of a New York evening, complete with live jazz, literary legends, and cold champagne. This iconic landmark-in-the-making is a fundraiser to support The Poetry Society of New York, a 501(c)3 non-profit, in its mission to make poetry—and the arts as a whole—accessible. If you haunt our Halloween spectacular, you will certainly have a night to remember while simultaneously supporting the arts! What can we say: we put the fun in fundraising!
Hosted by the uproarious Dandy (@dandyandfriends), the ball will commence with an 8:00pm VIP entrance (open to those with VIP tickets and to Sestina and Epic PSNY members). Until GA admission opens at 8:30pm, VIPs will mingle to the musical stylings of Hot Club of Flatbush and pick up their signed copies of Seymour Licht’s Halloween Underground, all while talking rhythm and rhyme at our open bar with critically-acclaimed poets Terrance Hayes (National Book Award Winner), Deborah Landau (The Believer Book Award Winner), and Timothy Donnelly (Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Winner).”
To get tickets go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psnys-first-annual-halloween-masquerade-ball-tickets-704915831227

Poetry@TECH Presents Victoria Chang, Vievee Francis, and James Davis May
2023-11-02 19:00 (America/New_York) | Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332, United States
Poetry@TECH Presents Victoria Chang, Vievee Francis, and James Davis May at the 22nd Bourne Poetry Reading at Thursday, 02 November, 2023 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time
From the organizers:
“The reading is FREE and open to the public.
Our doors open at 6:45 pm Eastern Time.
For more information, contact Travis Denton via email at travis.denton@lmc.gatech.edu.”

Cascadia Field Guide Presents Paisley Rekdal, Brittney Corrigan, Oliver de la Paz, Jessica E. Johnson, and Derek Sheffield at Portland Book Fest
2023-11-04 11:30 - 11:50 (America/Los_Angeles) | Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR, 97205, United States
Cascadia Field Guide Presents Paisley Rekdal, Brittney Corrigan, Oliver de la Paz, Jessica E. Johnson, and Derek Sheffield at the Portland Book Festival on November 4th, 11:30am-11:50am PT
From the organizers:
“This pop-up reading features contributors to the mixed-genre anthology Cascadia Field Guide. Join Brittney Corrigan, Oliver de la Paz, Jessica E. Johnson, Paisley Rekdal, and Derek Sheffield pop-up with a reading in the Portland Art Galleries. They are paired with A Canyon River with Pines and Figures by Grafton Tyler Brown; found in the Black Artists of Oregon exhibit, on the 2nd floor of the Portland Art Museum.”
For more information and to get tickets to the Portland Book Festival go to: https://pdxbookfest.org/event/pop-up-cascadia-field-guide/

National Book Foundation Presents Paisley Rekdal and Paul Harding at the Portland Book Festival
2023-11-04 13:30 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park Ave, Porland, OR, 97205, United States
National Book Foundation Presents Paisley Rekdal and Paul Harding at the Portland Book Festival November 4th 1:30-2:30pm PT
From the organizers:
“Join 2023 National Book Award–honored authors Paul Harding (This Other Eden, Fiction) and Paisley Rekdal (West: A Translation, Poetry) in a cross-genre conversation on how to bring historical voices to life, and how to translate US history for a contemporary literary landscape. Moderated by Anis Mojgani, Oregon’s current Poet Laureate and the author of five books of poetry. Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation and Literary Arts’ Portland Book Festival.
This is a special conversation with newly-minted 2023 National Book Award honorees only 10 days ahead of the 74th National Book Awards on Wednesday, November 15—featuring special guest Oprah Winfrey and announcing this year’s Winners live! You can learn more about all of the 2023 honorees, and register for the broadcast at the National Book Foundation’s website: nationalbook.org/awards.”
For more information and to get Portland Book Festival tickets go to: https://pdxbookfest.org/event/nbf-pbf-2023/

Portland Book Festival Presents Paisley Rekdal and Oliver de la Paz
2023-11-04 15:30 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Portland’s Brunish Theatre, 111 SW Broadway Ave, Portland, CA, 97205, United States
Portland Book Festival Presents Paisley Rekdal and Oliver de la Paz on November 4th, 3:30pm-4:30pm PT
From the organizers:
“In The Diaspora Sonnets, Oliver de la Paz uses the traditional sonnet to eloquently invoke the perseverance and myth of the Filipino diaspora in America. Paisley Rekdal’s West: A Translation is an unflinching hybrid collection of poems and essays that draws a powerful, necessary connection between the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882–1943). Moderated by Eric Tran (Moth, Sugar, and Smoke).”
For more information and tickets to the Porland Book Festival go to: https://pdxbookfest.org/event/de-la-paz-rekdal/
