The Studio Series Poetry Reading & Open Mic

The Studio Series Poetry Reading & Open Mic 

Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, has eight full-length books of poetry, her most recent being My Kindred from Salmon Poetry of Ireland. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Poetry, The Birmingham Review, Prairie Schooner, Orion, Wilderness Magazine, the Internet’s Poetry Daily, and POETRY IN MOTION, which placed poems on the Tri-met busses and light rail cars in the Portland area. The Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds chose a poem from her book The Voluptuary as the lyric for a choral composition that’s now part of the repertoire of the Choir at Trinity College, Cambridge. Recently Ešenvalds commissioned three poems from her to use as the lyrics in his new choral composition, Naming the Rain. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. In 2006 she received the Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, and in 2013, Willamette Writers’ Distinguished Northwest Writer Award. As Oregon’s 6th Poet Laureate, from 2010 to 2014 she traveled over 27,000 miles within Oregon, visiting all of its 36 counties to give workshops, readings, and presentations at schools, libraries, and community centers.

 Donna Prinzmetal is a poet, psychotherapist and teacher. She has taught poetry and creative writing for more than 30 years to adults and children. Her poems have appeared in many magazines including Prairie Schooner, The Comstock Review, The Journal and New Ohio Review.  Her first book, Snow White, When No One Was Looking, was published with CW Books in May of 2014. She is the recipient of the 2020 Lois Cranston Prize from Calyx Journal.

The Open Mic is open to all audience members. Participants can sign up before the start of the reading or during the break. In the interest of time, Open Mic readers are asked to limit their readings to three minutes.

The Ross Island Grocery and Café is a cozy space with capacity for 40 or so people. Tables are available, so people who arrive early can enjoy a light supper (i.e., a sandwich, salad or burger) while waiting for the reading to begin. If we run out of table space, folding chairs are available. A mic will enhance the readings. There is plenty of unrestricted parking on the streets around the Café.

Questions? Please contact host Leah Stenson at [email protected].