JOE AGUILAR, TROY JAMES WEAVER & CANDICE WUEHLE

Saturday, September 24th, 7pm, KCAI Crossroads Gallery: Center for Contemporary Practice (1819 Grand Blvd. KCMO) FREE!

Joe AGUILAR is the author of Half Out Where (Caketrain). 

His recent work is in Sprung Formal, The Threepenny Review, and Tin House. 

Troy James WEAVER is the author of Witchita Stories, Visions, and Marigold. His work has appeared in Hobart, The Nervous Breakdown, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Atticus Review, Everyday Genius, Entropy, Funhouse Magazine, Heavy Feather Review, and many other places. In June, his newest work, Marigold, was featured on Dennis Cooper's list of favorites for 2016 so far. He lives in Wichita, Kansas with his wife and two dogs.

Candice WUEHLE is the author of curse words: a guide in 19 steps for aspiring transmographs (Dancing Girl Press, 2014) and EARTH*AIR*FIRE*WATER*ÆTHER (Grey Books Press, 2015). Some of her poems can found in The Volta, The Colorado Review, and Tarpaulin Sky. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her partner Andrew and their rabbit, William. 

SERENA CHOPRA, SUEYEUN JULIETTE LEE & JOSHUA WARE

Saturday, APRIL 30th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Serena CHOPRA is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Denver. She is the author of two full-length books of poems, This Human (Coconut 2013) and Ic (Horse Less, forthcoming in summer 2016), as well as two chapbooks, Penumbra (Flying Guillotine Press 2011) and Livid Season (Free Poetry 2012). She is a 2016-2017 Fulbright Scholar, performing research and service in Bangalore, India at a queer women's support organization. She is also a professional dancer serving as a five year company member of Evolving Doors Dance, as well as a visual artist, having been a 2011-2013 resident artist at the RedLine Gallery. She currently teaches in the MFA program at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School. She lives and works in Denver.

Sueyeun Juliette LEE grew up three miles from the CIA. A former Pew Fellow in the Arts for Literature, her books includeThat Gorgeous Feeling (Coconut), Underground National (Factory School), and Solar Maximum (Futurepoem) as well as numerous chapbooks. She founded Corollary Press, a chapbook series dedicated to innovative multi­ethnic writing, and writes reviews for The Constant Critic, a project of Fence Books. Her critical essays explore Asian American contemporary poetics as well as the imaginations of spaces and time. She has held arts residencies in poetry, dance, and video art in Hafnarborg (Iceland), Kunstnarhuset Messen (Norway), and UCross Foundation (Wyoming). She currently works at a women's shelter in Denver. You can find her at silentbroadcast.com

Joshua WARE is a poet and collage artist who was born in Cleveland, OH. He is the author of the recently published Unwanted Invention / Vargtimmen, as well as Homage to Homage to Homage to Creeley. He currently lives in Denver, CO.

PHIL ESTES, JIM MCCRARY & ZOPHIA MCDOUGAL

Saturday, March 5th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

 Phil ESTES is the author of High Life (Horse Less Press 2016) and the chapbooks Slowjams (Living Arts 2016), Children of Reagan (Rabbit Catastrophe 2012), and Gem City/Fountain City (Rabbit Catastrophe 2009). His work has appeared in Action Yes!, Diagram, Lungfull, West Wind Review, and others. He lives in Shreveport, LA.

 Jim MCCRARY's latest book is This Here. It is as close to memoir as he will do. Could be true or correct. Or not. 

Zophia MCDOUGAL is a human. Born, ironically, in Deadwood, South Dakota, and raised in Columbia, Missouri. Zophia is an ex-athlete gone artist and a writer who does not mind sir, ma'am, he, she, or they because she'd rather let people decide that for themselves. Zophia is Zophia according to Zophia. Zophia is inspired to write the paces of the world. Sentence structure is the water to Zophia's toy gun, which is actually a whistle blown for everyone to hear in order to be reminded that they all are existing!

SCOTT ABELS, DENNIS ETZEL JR & LAURA MADELINE WISEMAN

Saturday, January 30th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Scott ABELS is the author of New City (BlazeVOX, 2015) and Rambo Goes to Idaho (BlazeVOX, 2011) as well as the chapbooks A STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH (Beard of Bees Press, 2015) and Nebraska Fantastic (Beard of Bees Press, 2012). He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Boise State University. After many years living and teaching in Mexico and Hawai'i, he now lives on the family homestead near Stanton, Nebraska, where he edits the online poetry journal Country Music. He is also a new member of the English faculty at Northeast Community College. http://scottabels.blogspot.com/

Dennis ETZEL JR. lives with Carrie and the boys in Topeka, Kansas where he teaches English at Washburn University. He has an MFA from The University of Kansas, and an MA and Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies from Kansas State University. He has two chapbooks, The Sum of Two Mothers (ELJ Publications 2013) and My Graphic Novel (Kattywompus Press 2015). His full-length poetic memoir My Secret Wars of 1984 (BlazeVOX 2015) was a Kansas City Star Best Poetry Book of 2015. His work has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, BlazeVOX, Fact-Simile, 1913: a journal of poetic forms, 3:AM, Tarpaulin Sky, DIAGRAM, and others. He is a TALK Scholar for the Kansas Humanities Council and leads poetry workshops in various Kansas spaces. Please feel free to connect with him at www.dennisetzeljr.com.

Laura Madeline WISEMAN is the author of over twenty books and chapbooks and the editor of Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press). Her recent books are Drink (BlazeVOX Books), Wake (Aldrich Press), Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience (Lavender Ink), and the collaborative book The Hunger of the Cheeky Sisters (Les Femmes Folles) with artist Lauren Rinaldi. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Margie, Mid-American Review, The Iowa Review, Calyx, Ploughshares, and Feminist Studies. Currently, she teaches English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. www.lauramadelinewiseman.com

CODY-ROSE CLEVIDENCE, C. VIOLET EATON, TOD MARSHALL & SARA NICHOLSON

Saturday, November 14th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Cody-Rose CLEVIDENCE's first book, BEAST FEAST was published by Ahsahta in 2014. They live in the Arkansas Ozarks w their dog, Pearl.

C. Violet EATON is a poet living in West Fork, Arkansas. He is the author of Some Habits (Omnidawn 2015), and the former editor of Bestoned, a journal of verse. After a longish stint in the used-and-rare-book world, he is currently working toward a PhD in vernacular American literature and folklore.

Tod MARSHALL's first collection of poetry, Dare Say, was the 2002 winner of the University of Georgia’s Contemporary Poetry Series. He has also published a collection of his interviews with contemporary poets, Range of the Possible (EWU Press, 2002), and an accompanying anthology of the interviewed poets’ work, Range of Voices (2005). These volumes include interviews with and poems by Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Robert Wrigley, Donald Revell, Brenda Hillman, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, Ed Hirsch, Dave Smith, and others. His second collection of poetry, The Tangled Line, was published by Canarium Books (2009). His most recent collection, Bugle, was published by Canarium in 2014 and won the 2015 Washington State Book Award. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches at Gonzaga University.

Sara NICHOLSON is the author of The Living Method (The Song Cave, 2014). She lives in Arkansas.

ROBERT GANO, MICHAEL SIKKEMA & JEN TYNES

Saturday, October 10th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Robert Gano is a Kansas City poet who engages the ridiculous and the absurd, the strange of the mundane. He was published in Sprung Formal Ex. Current. Onward and has been the featured reader at Blue Monday at Uptown Arts Bar.

Michael Sikkema has worked in factories, YMCA camps, and landscaping. He is the author of three books of poetry, most recently May Apple Deep from Trembling Pillow Press. He is also the author of several chapbooks and collaborative chapbooks, most recently Time Missing, an exploration of alien abduction and pioneer captivity narratives, available from Grey Book Press. He enjoys correspondence at michael.sikkema@gmail.com.

Jen Tynes is the founding editor of Horse Less Press. She is the author of three full-length books of poetry--Trick Rider (Trembling Pillow Press), Heron/Girlfriend (Coconut Books), and The End Of Rude Handles (Red Morning Press), and the author or co-author of eight chapbooks. Her fourth book of poetry, Hunter Monies, is forthcoming from Black Radish Books in early 2016. She teaches writing and lives in Grand Rapids.

RHIANNON DICKERSON & AMISH TRIVEDI

Saturday, September 12th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Rhiannon Dickerson is a Kansas City poet, and lecturer at UMKC. Her work has been published most recently in LIT, Quarterly West, horse less press, and Pleiades. She received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2008. She raises three children with her husband in the country.

Amish Trivedi is the author of Sound/Chest (Coven Press), has poems in New American Writing, Kenyon Online, The Laurel Review and a bunch of other places. His reviews of books have been in Jacket2, Sink, and Pleiades while his music reviews have been in The Rumpus and ColdFront. He is the managing editor of N/A, is starting a Ph.D. and occasionally comes up for air at amishtrivedi.com.

JOSHUA EDWARDS, TED MATHYS & LYNN XU

Saturday, May 9th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Joshua Edwards directs Canarium Books. He's the author of three collections of poetry (Architecture for Travelers, Imperial Nostalgias, and Campeche) and a photobook (Photographs Taken at One-Hour Intervals During a Walk from Galveston Island to the West Texas Town of Marfa), and he translated María Baranda's book-length poem, Ficticia.

Ted Mathys's third book of poems, Null Set, is out this spring from Coffee House Press. He is also the author of The Spoils (2009), and Forge (2005). The recipient of fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Poetry Society of America, he lives in Saint Louis, teaches at Saint Louis University, and co-curates the Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts Poetry Series.www.tedmathys.com

Lynn Xu was born in Shanghai. She is the author of Debts & Lessons (Omnidawn), which was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, and June (a chapbook from Corollary Press). When not traveling, she lives in Marfa, Texas, where she co-edits Canarium Books. 

LAUREN HALDEMAN, DANIEL KHALASTCHI, BLUEBERRY MORNINGSNOW & MARC RAHE

Saturday, April 25th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

Lauren Haldeman works as the web developer, web designer, and editor for the Writing University website at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Review, as well as several other websites. She received her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Calenday (Rescue Press, 2014) is her first full-length collection of poetry. Lauren is a mom and makes paintings.

Daniel Khalastchi is the author of two books of poetry, Manoleria (Tupelo Press, 2011) and Tradition (McSweeney’s, 2015). A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a former fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, his poems have appeared in a variety of publications, including Colorado Review, Fence, Iowa Review, jubilat, Ninth Letter, 1913: A Journal of Forms, and Best American Experimental Writing 2014. He lives in Iowa City and is the co-founder and managing editor of Rescue Press.

Blueberry Morningsnow was born in Missoula, Montana, in 1977. She grew up in Chatham, Illinois, and then lived in Iowa City, St. Louis, and Chicago. She was in the bands The Star Death and Hroom Hroom in St. Louis. She has one son, Finnegan. Recent poems have been published in jubilat, Thermos, and Loaded Bicycle. She is the author of Whale In The Woods (Rescue Press, 2011).

Marc Rahe received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His poems have appeared in Gutcult, iO: A Journal of New American Poetry, jubilat, notnostrums, Painted Bride Quarterly, Petri Press, Sixth Finch, and other literary journals. Marc lives in Iowa City and works for a human service agency. His first collection of poems, The Smaller Half, was published by Rescue Press in 2010. His second collection, On Hours, is forthcoming from Rescue Press in May of 2015.

JESSICA COMOLA, TIM EARLEY, LESLIE ANN WHEELER

Saturday, March 7th, 7pm, Irving Amphitheater (4402 Oak St. KCMO 64111) FREE!

 Jessica COMOLA co-hosts the Trobar Ric Reading Series in Oxford, Mississippi. Her chapbook, What Kind of Howly Divine, came out from Horseless Press in 2014. Other recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in jubilat, Caketrain, The Destroyer, Smoking Glue Gun, Dreginald and Tenderloin.

Tim EARLEY is the author of the poetry collections, Boondoggle, The Spooking of Mavens, and Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (Horse Less Press, 2014), as well as the chapbooks Catfish Poems (Delete Press, 2013) and The Center Is Barbaric The Periphery Is Without Lights (DoubleCross Press, forthcoming). His poems have appeared in Chicago Review, Colorado Review, jubilat, Conduit, Dreginald, Typo, and many other journals and anthologies. He teaches an astonishing variety of English courses at the University of Mississippi. 

Lesley Ann WHEELER's chapbook, Dream Treatment, is available from Dancing Girl Press, and her photo-essay "A Little Hell of Its Own" won the 2013 Bone Bouquet Experimental Prose contest.