April 23rd in Youngstown: I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing anthology reading

On April 23rd at the Soap Gallery, Lit Youngstown will present a reading by contributors to the recently published I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing anthology (edited by Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour and published by Sheila-Na-Gig). We'd love to see you there!

2 p.m.

The Soap Gallery
117 S. Champion Street
Youngstown, Ohio 44503

Chernin and Burroughs Return to Youngstown January 8th

On the second Wednesday of 2020, I will have the honor of returning to Youngstown to read with Shelley Chernin at The Soap Gallery as part of my Rattle and Numb poetry tour. Many thanks to Karen Schubert and Lit Youngstown for inviting us! Crisis Chronicles Press will reprint Shelley's 2012 chapbook, The Vigil, to honor the occasion. An open mic emceed by Rae McCann will follow our readings. And we'll be celebrating National Toffee Day! (Toffee is my favorite candy.)

John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin
Wednesday 8 January 2020 at 7 p.m.

The Soap Gallery
117 S. Champion Street
Youngstown, Ohio 44503

Hope to see you there! 

Though Youngstown is one of my favorite poetry cities, I've only read there two times before:

• 4 May 2016 with Dianne Borsenik & Mathew Minicucci at Susie's Dogs & Drafts
• 1 May 2011 with Dianne Borsenik, Shelley Chernin, Karen Schubert, Steve Thomas, Mindi Kirchner-Greenway and many more during the Ward Bakery Open Studio Reading.

NightBallet & Crisis Chronicles Presses present Streelight Imaginations 11/23

Crisis Chronicles and NightBallet Presses Present

Streetlight Imaginations — Poets Read from Recent Books

South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Cuyahoga County Public Library
Meeting Room 162 (20)
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Saturday November 23rd at 2 p.m., join us for an afternoon of vital poetry. Hear from eight poets, all with recent books published by Crisis Chronicles Press and NightBallet Press.

Crisis Chronicles Press poets:

• Nick Gardner, So Marvelously Far (2019)
• Nicole Hennessy, Gypsy Queen (2019)
• Cat Russell, Soul Picked Clean (2019)
• Elaine Schleiffer, Our house on the sand (2019)
  
  

NightBallet Press poets:

• Karen Schubert, Dear Youngstown (2019)
• Lisa M. and Sean Thomas Dougherty, The Answer Is Not Here (2019)
• Julio Montalvo Valentin, Those Who Pray to Rice (2019)

Refreshments provided. Books will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of the publishers.

Free event! Please register here: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/2454819.

Registration is not required, but is helpful to the library in setting up for the event.
 

Ohio Poetry Showcase at the Ohio State Fair, August 1st

I am honored to have the opportunity to share poetry this Thursday, August 1st, at the Ohio State Fair! From the press release: "The afternoon will begin with the Ohio Poetry Out Loud reading, emceed by Chiquita Mullins Lee of the Ohio Arts Council. Then at 3:30 some of Ohio’s finest poets will take the stage for a reading emceed by Fred Andrle. Featured poets include Geoff Anderson, John Burroughs, Cathryn Essinger, Barbara Fant, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Pauletta Hansel, Furaha Henry-Jones, Mark Sebastian Jordan, Susann Möeller, Karen Schubert, and Kerry Jensen Trautman. Finally, Ohio Poet Laureate Dave Lucas will bring the evening to a close."

Many thanks to the Ohio Poetry Association!

For more information, please visit ohiopoetry.org.

Eight books I read in March 2015

Okay, so it's fewer than I read in January (12) or February (19).  But I read seven of these eight during the first 14 days of the month. Then I decided to read a couple longer books that took more time.  They're not on this list because I haven't finished them yet (probably will in April).  Also, you'll note that three of the eight books I finished reading in March are books I published.  I've read those more than once since they were submitted, as you might imagine.  But I don't count books I publish as officially read until they're officially a book (i.e. published), when I do my final read through.

Without further ado, here are March's eight:

Cutting the Möbius by Jonathan Thorn [2015, Crisis Chronicles Press]
The Green World by Andy Roberts [2014, NightBallet Press]
Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 [2013, NightBallet Press]
Literary Sexts: A Collection of Short & Sexy Love Poems, Volume 1 [2014, Words Dance Publishing]
On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt [2005, Princeton University Press]
Thunderclap Amen by Dianne Borsenik [2015, Crisis Chronicles Press]
I Left My Wings on a Chair by Karen Schubert [2014, Kent State University Press]
Bookmobile: From the Library of Jesus Crisis by David S. Pointer [2015, Crisis Chronicles Press]

https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/2067883

March 9th Monday at Mahall's presents Karen Schubert, Megan Erwin

March 9th 2015 at 7:30 p.m. the Monday at Mahall's Poetry and Prose Series will present readings by featured authors Karen Schubert & Megan Erwin.

Karen Schubert’s most recent chapbooks are Black Sand Beach (Kattywompus Press, 2015) and I Left My Wings on a Chair (Kent State Press, 2014), selected by Kathleen Flenniken for the Wick Poetry Center prize. Her work appears or is forthcoming in PoetsArtists, The Louisville Review, American Literary Review, Best American Poetry Blog, and diode poetry journal. Awards include a 2013 residency at Headlands Center for the Arts and 2014 Pushcart Prize nomination. She is a founding member of Lit Youngstown, a new literary arts organization in Youngstown, Ohio.

Megan M. Erwin is a graduate of the North East Ohio Master of Fine Arts program and the former editor of Whiskey Island. A former Bisbee fellow, she is a recipient the Leonard Trawick Creative Writing Award, an Academy of American Poet’s Prize, and a scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts. Her work can be found at Everyday Genius and the Valparaiso Fiction Review.

An open mic emceed by John Burroughs will follow. Beer, bowling and balderdash optional, as always.