Rebecca Foust
I grew up in rust belt Pennsylvania, a paradoxical place of farmlands and factories, mountains and strip mines. My twin brother and I were first-generation college, and I graduated from Smith College and Stanford Law School. After several decades in Northern California spent raising children and advocating for students with learning challenges, I left law to pursue writing, earning an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson in 2010.
My seventh book of poetry, ONLY, is forthcoming from Four Way Books in 2022. The Unexploded Ordnance Bin won the Swan Scythe Poetry Chapbook Award. A book of sonnets, Paradise Drive, won the 2015 Press 53 Award for Poetry and was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, Georgia Review, Harvard Review, Hudson Review, and others. All That Gorgeous Pitiless Song won the Many Mountains Moving Book Prize in 2010, the same year a collaboration with artist Lorna Stevens, God, Seed: Poetry & Art About the Natural World, won the Foreword Book of the Year Award for Poetry. Mom’s Canoe and Dark Card, consecutive recipients of the Robert Phillips Chapbook Poetry Prize, were released by Texas Review Press in 2008 and 2009.
My poems, book reviews, essays, and short stories are widely published in journals and also anthologies including Healing the Divide: Poems of Kinship and Connection (Green Writers Press 2019); How Lovely the Ruins, Foreword by Elizabeth Alexander (Spiegel & Grau 2017); Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (Pearson 2015); and Literature, A Pocket Anthology (Penguin 2011).
Recognitions include the 2023 New Ohio Review Prize, runner-up for the 2023 Missouri Review Prize, the 2019 Pablo Neruda Award (judged by Kaveh Akbar), the 2018 CP Cavafy Award, the 2015 James Hearst Poetry Prize (Jane Hirshfield), American Literary Review’s 2015 Fiction Prize (Garth Greenwell), and the 2015 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize. I’ve been fortunate to receive fellowships from the Frost Place, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, Sewanee, and the Westchester Poetry Conference and, in 2017, appointment as Marin County Poet Laureate where my “Poetry as Sanctuary” project featured events with immigrant readers.
I read prose as an Associate Editor for Narrative Magazine, and enjoy teaching my work and event organizing–the popular Poetry World Series co-founded with Melissa Stein has been drawing large audiences for 12 years at SF Litquake, Brooklyn Book Festival, Mill Valley Library, and other venues.
Upcoming Appearances/Events
| Date | Venue | Address | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Date:
April 21, 2024 4:30pm |
Venue: Only Film Screening at Cadence Video Poetry Festival |
Address:
1515 12th Ave Seattle, WA |
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| Notes: In-person & Online in Pacific Time - Only film screening as part of Cadence Video Poetry Festival at Northwest Film Forum | ||||||||
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Date:
May 3, 2024 4:00pm |
Venue: Reading hosted by Blue Light Press |
Address:
Dominican University San Rafael, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Maxine Chernoff & Marsha De la O at Dominican University, hosted by Diane Frank of Blue Light Press | ||||||||
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Date:
May 17, 2024 7:00pm |
Venue: Poetry World Series at Mill Valley Library |
Address:
375 Throckmorton Avenue Mill Valley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Two teams of poets from the Bay Area and beyond take turns batting at poem topics pitched to them by the audience. Emceed by Daniel Handler and curated by Rebecca Foust and Melissa Stein. | ||||||||
Recent Appearances/Events
| Date | Venue | Address | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Date:
April 7, 2024 3:00pm - |
Venue: Poetry Flash Reading |
Address:
2727 California Street Berkeley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Poetry Flash presents a reading by Janée J. Baugher, Seattle poet and author of The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction, and Rebecca Foust, Only, Marin County Poet Laureate emerita. Refreshments, free. | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 4, 2024 7:00pm - |
Venue: John Natsoulas Gallery Reading |
Address:
521 First Street Davis, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Davis Poet Laureate Julia Levine, hosted by Andy Jones on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery. Please dress warmly. An open mic will follow the featured performers. | ||||||||
|
Date:
February 27, 2024 TBA - |
Venue: Reading with Javier Zamora |
Address:
10 Elm Street Northampton, MA |
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| Notes: In-person in Eastern Time - Hosted by Matt Donovan for the The Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College. | ||||||||
|
Date:
January 9, 2024 7:00pm - |
Venue: Bookshop Santa Cruz reading with Susan Cohen, hosted by Farnaz Fatemi |
Address:
1520 Pacific Avenue Santa Cruz, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Susan Cohen, hosted by Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Farnaz Fatemi | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 4, 2023 3:30pm - 4:00pm |
Venue: Grand Marais Arts Colony North Shore Readers and Writers Festival 2023 |
Address:
Grand Marais, MN |
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| Notes: In-person in Central Time - Featured Reader at Grand Marais Arts Colony North Shore Readers and Writers Festival 2023 alongside Kate St. Vincent Vogl, Micheal Torres, Lisa Golden Schroeder, Mona Susan Power, and Klecko. | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 2, 2023 9:00am - 4:00pm |
Venue: Grand Marais Arts Colony North Shore Readers and Writers Festival 2023 |
Address:
Grand Marais, MN |
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| Notes: In-person in Central Time - Featured Teacher at Grand Marais Arts Colony North Shore Readers and Writers Festival 2023 - The Contemporary Sonnet: Birdcage and Bird | ||||||||
|
Date:
October 19, 2023 6:30pm - 8:30pm |
Venue: In a New York Minute: Readings by Bay Area Four Way Books Authors |
Address:
375 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Bay Area authors Susan Browne, Peter Coyote, and Cintia Santana recently or about-to-be published by Four Way Books, an independent publisher celebrating its 25th anniversary | ||||||||
|
Date:
July 30, 2023 9:30am - 12:30pm |
Venue: Poetry as Craft Workshop |
Address:
3152 Forest Lake Rd Pebble Beach, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Faculty with Joseph Millar, Catamaran Writing Conference. July 30-Aug 3rd, 2023 at The Stevenson School in Pebble Beach. Apply at https://catamaranliteraryreader.com/writing-conference-2023 | ||||||||
|
Date:
May 21, 2023 2:00pm - 2:15pm |
Venue: Poets for Science Reading |
Address:
173 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Mamahuhu Restaurant, Downtown Mill Valley. Hosted by Meryl Natchez and Marin Poetry Center. | ||||||||
|
Date:
May 12, 2023 8:00pm - 9:30pm |
Venue: LA Book Launch of Francesca Bell’s What Small Sound |
Address:
681 Venice Blvd Venice, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Francesca Bell, Douglas Manuel and Suzanne O'Connell. Host: Jimmy Vega. | ||||||||
|
Date:
May 9, 2023 7:00pm - 8:30pm |
Venue: The Hive Live! presents Rebecca Foust and Zeina Hashem Beck |
Address:
1520 Pacific Ave Santa Cruz, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Bookshop Santa Cruz reading with Zeina Hashem Beck. Masks are required to attend. | ||||||||
|
Date:
May 1, 2023 11:30am - 12:30pm |
Venue: Talk on “The Contemporary Sonnet” |
Address:
Kirby Plaza 309, UMD Duluth MN |
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| Notes: In-person in Central Time - Talk on “The Contemporary Sonnet” at the University of Minnesota. | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 14, 2023 7:00pm - 9:00pm |
Venue: Poetry World Series |
Address:
375 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA |
||||||
| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Daniel Handler returns to emcee the 9th Poetry World Series, where baseball and poetry collide to create a fabulous and wacky literary event. | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 8, 2023 2:00pm - 4:00pm |
Venue: Redwood Writers Poetry Workshop |
Address:
Finley Community Center, 2060 W. College Ave Santa Rosa, CA |
||||||
| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - What makes work--a poem, short story or essay--"good" and--not always the same thing!--what makes it publishable? Hosted by Les Bernstein. | ||||||||
|
Date:
March 30, 2023 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
Venue: Marin Poetry Center High School Arts Mashup |
Address:
1501 Tiburon Blvd Tiburon, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with Erin Rodini at youth visual arts and poetry exhibition, organized by Marin Poetry Center in collaboration with Belvedere-Tiburon Library. | ||||||||
|
Date:
March 10, 2023 11:00am - 12:00pm |
Venue: Book Signing with Four Way Books |
Address:
Seattle Convention Center Seattle, WA |
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| Notes: In-Person in Pacific Time - Book signing at Booth #803 with Rigoberto González and Eugenia Leigh at AWP 2023 Seattle. | ||||||||
|
Date:
March 9, 2023 6:30pm - 9:00pm |
Venue: Four Way Books Reading |
Address:
1427 Western Ave Seattle, WA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Four Way Books reading at Seattle Beer Co. as part of AWP 2023 Seattle. | ||||||||
|
Date:
February 23, 2023 7:00pm - 8:30pm |
Venue: An Evening With Poet Laureates |
Address:
375 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Reading with California Poet Laureate, Lee Herrick & San Francisco Poet Laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin. Organized by Marin Poetry Center in collaboration with Mill Valley Library. | ||||||||
|
Date:
January 21, 2023 5:00pm - 5:50pm |
Venue: The Poetry Show |
Address:
Boise, Idaho |
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| Notes: Online in Mountain Time - ONLY featured on “The Poetry Show” on KRBX/Radio Boise 89.9/93.5 FM, hosted by DJ Daphne. | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 13, 2022 TBA - |
Venue: East Bay Book Launch |
Address:
5743 A Horton Street Emeryville, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - with Susan Cohen, hosted by former Poet Laureate of Emeryville Sarah Kobrinsky at Jered's Pottery | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 12, 2022 2:00pm - 3:00pm |
Venue: North Bay Book Launch |
Address:
51 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - with Susan Cohen at Book Passage | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 10, 2022 7:00pm - |
Venue: Poetry Flash Virtual Series Reading |
Address:
Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA |
||||||
| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - with David Baker, hosted by Joyce Jenkins and Richard Silber. For more information: 510-649-1320 | ||||||||
|
Date:
November 6, 2022 6:00pm - 8:00pm |
Venue: Bazaar Writers Salon |
Address:
5927 California St. (at 22nd Ave) San Francisco, CA |
||||||
| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Readings by David Baker, William Brewer, Rebecca Foust, Page Hill Starzinger, and Ryann Stevenson. Hosted by Peter Kline. At Bazaar Café in the mid-Richmond District of San Francisco. | ||||||||
|
Date:
October 15, 2022 10:00am - 5:00pm |
Venue: TWIN CITIES BOOK FESTIVAL |
Address:
1265 Snelling Ave N St Paul, Minnesota |
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| Notes: In-person in Central Time - New Authors’ Showcase at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. I will be selling books and meeting people from 12-1 pm. Learn more at https://twincitiesbookfestival.com | ||||||||
|
Date:
October 14, 2022 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
Venue: Zoom Forward! Reading |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Zoom Forward! online literary series reading with Susan Cohen hosted by Hannah Hutton. To register, sign up for the mailing list at https://mailchi.mp/santacruzwrites/zoomforward92 | ||||||||
|
Date:
October 8, 2022 7:00pm - 9:00pm |
Venue: SF Litquake POETRY WORLD SERIES for Yerba Buena Night |
Address:
342 Rome Street San Francisco, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - Emceed by Daniel Handler, with umps D.A. Powell and TBA, and players Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Rebecca Foust, Sam Sax, Shelley Wong, and others. Watch "Election Returns 2016": https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AvXBO3GNuF82giSmBj9ZkqGE4l5K0kJ_/view?usp=sharing | ||||||||
|
Date:
October 6, 2022 7:00pm - |
Venue: Marin Poetry Center New Books Showcase & Reading |
Address:
375 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - hosted by Amanda Moore, at the Mill Valley Library. Fourteen MPC poets each read a poem to introduce their new books. Event is free. Watch "Only": https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AvXBO3GNuF82giSmBj9ZkqGE4l5K0kJ_/view?usp=sharing | ||||||||
|
Date:
September 21, 2022 7:00pm - |
Venue: Four Way Books Virtual Book Launch |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Eastern Time - Hosted by White Whale books, with Yesenia Montilla, Soren Stockman, and Anthony Cappo. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-launch-four-way-books-fall-2022-montilla-stockman-foust-cappo-registration-403158055597?fbclid=IwAR1U2QjvMLKHscFS38Spzhnos6V3WbWtMRGtgkHS6fqApcqKMwsfh5iA5qE | ||||||||
|
Date:
September 11, 2022 4:00pm - |
Venue: Javier Zamora Reading |
Address:
51 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, CA |
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| Notes: In-person in Pacific Time - “In conversation” with former student, the poet Javier Zamora reading from his new book, a memoir entitled SOLITO, at Book Passage. | ||||||||
|
Date:
August 14, 2022 3:00pm - 5:00pm |
Venue: Second Sunday Poetry Series |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Hosted by Siân Killingsworth, with David Baker and Stephen Thomas Roberts. Register at https://bit.ly/3yXdUuI | ||||||||
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Date:
August 14, 2022 8:00pm - |
Venue: The Hive Poetry Collective |
Address:
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| Notes: Hive Poetry Collective airs radio show on KQSD of reading with Susan Cohen, hosted by Dion O’Reilly | ||||||||
|
Date:
August 9, 2022 6:00pm - 8:00pm |
Venue: Coastside Poetry |
Address:
Half Moon Bay, CA |
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Coastside Poetry Zoom reading hosted by Diane Lee Moomey and Steve Long. Register by sending an email to sklong77@gmail.com | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 26, 2022 7:00pm - 8:00pm |
Venue: Poetic License Sonoma Reading |
Address:
282 South High Street Sebastopol, CA |
||||||
| Notes: In person in Pacific Time - “Ars Poetica” with special guest poet, Rebecca Foust, with presenting poets: Joseph Cutler, Susanne Arrhenius, Paul DeMarco, Leo McCloskey, Steve Trenam, Judith Vaughn, Jaime Zukowski, Kusum Irene Jain | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 23, 2022 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
Venue: Lit Balm: An Interactive Livestream Reading Series |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Eastern Time - 50 Years of Ploughshares Poetry: A celebration of the Winter '21-'22 issue featuring Rebecca Foust, Tatiana Johnson-Boria, John Okrent, Kwame Dawes, John Skoyles, and DeWitt Henry | ||||||||
|
Date:
March 28, 2022 7:00pm - 9:00pm |
Venue: Javier Zamora Reading |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Eastern Time - Friends of Writers is pleased to host a special featured reading with poet and memoirist, Javier Zamora. Zamora will read from his forthcoming memoir, SOLITO and there will be a short Q&A to follow. Poet and Warren Wilson alum, Rebecca Foust will give an introduction to Javier and his work. | ||||||||
|
Date:
March 3, 2022 7:00pm - 8:30pm |
Venue: Poetry Evening at Becket Athenaeum |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Eastern Time - Readings by and Q&A with the poets Rebecca Foust, Chloe Martinez, and Victoria Bosch Murray. Moderated by Jayne Benjulian, founder of the Berkshire Writers Project. Funded by Central Berkshire Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and Fairfield County's Community Foundation. | ||||||||
|
Date:
January 15, 2022 8:00pm - 9:30pm |
Venue: Poets Celebrating No Borders with Mirrors and Windows |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Eastern Time - Reading with other contributors to the new anthology Mirrors and Windows edited by Canadian poet Anna Yin. Hosted by Cultural Influences on Poetry and Translation & Chinese Professionals Association of Canada. | ||||||||
|
Date:
April 15, 2021 3:00pm - 4:00pm |
Venue: Poetry and Narrative Medicine Series |
Address:
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| Notes: Poetry and Medicine Series hosted by Owen Lewis and the Stockbridge Library, with Jennifer Franklin | ||||||||
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Date:
March 6, 2021 10:20am - 11:20am |
Venue: AWP Panel: Bending the Arc Toward Justice |
Address:
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| Notes: Poetry on the Law with George Higgins, Kathleen McClung, Laura Schulkind, and Lynne Thomson. Four practicing or "recovering" attorneys and a jury forewoman read poems on the legal system and the people who strive for justice within and beyond the courtroom. See online schedule. | ||||||||
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Date:
March 4, 2021 - - |
Venue: AWP Offsite Reading |
Address:
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| Notes: AWP Offsite reading “Show Me State Lit Mags,” with poets representing The Missouri Review, Laurel Review, Bear Review, New Letters, Boulevard, and River Styx. | ||||||||
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Date:
February 13, 2021 1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Venue: Marin Poetry Center Building Bridges Book Club |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Discussion leader, reading Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude; register online on Mill Valley Library Events page. Order at https://bookshop.org/shop/MPC | ||||||||
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Date:
January 18, 2021 4:30pm - |
Venue: Smith College |
Address:
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| Notes: Presentation on poems by Camille Dungy, Rebecca Foust, and Adrienne Rich, Camille from The Map of Every Lilac Leaf: Poets Respond to the Smith College Museum of Art. | ||||||||
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Date:
November 15, 2020 10:00am - 12:00pm |
Venue: Great Books of San Francisco |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - “Poetry & Form” lecture (10-12 am PST) and Interactive Reading and Interview conducted by Cathy Shea (2-4 pm PST). I will also host an OPEN MIC on SAT 11/14 at 6 pm PST. Register online. | ||||||||
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Date:
November 6, 2020 6:00pm - |
Venue: Blue Light Press Reading |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - with Ellery Akers and Maxine Chernoff, hosted by Diane Frank. Registration details TBA. | ||||||||
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Date:
November 1, 2020 - - |
Venue: Coastside Poetry Panel on the Sonnet |
Address:
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| Notes: | ||||||||
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Date:
October 22, 2020 4:00pm - |
Venue: Nimrod Journal Conference for Readers and Writers |
Address:
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| Notes: Reading for Pablo Neruda Prize, CANCELLED due to Covid-19 | ||||||||
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Date:
October 21, 2020 3:00pm - 5:30pm |
Venue: Poetry and Patient Care: Fine-Tuning Our Listening |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - with Jim Ferris and Kate Daniels and hosted by Owen Lewis at American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry’s 67th Annual Meeting, Session ID: 23165. Register Online. | ||||||||
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Date:
October 17, 2020 - - |
Venue: Nimrod 2020 Pablo Neruda Awards |
Address:
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| Notes: Reading with Janine Certo | ||||||||
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Date:
October 11, 2020 1:00pm - |
Venue: 15th Anniversary Celebration for Press 53 |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Reading with Marjorie Hudson. Registration details TBA. | ||||||||
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Date:
October 10, 2020 1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Venue: Marin Poetry Center Building Bridges Book Club |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Discussion leader, reading John Murillo’s Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books 2020); register online at Mill Valley Events page | ||||||||
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Date:
October 6, 2020 4:30pm - |
Venue: Book launch reading |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - The Map of Every Lilac Leaf: Poets Respond to the Smith College Museum of Art, with Gina Franco, Laurie Ann Guerrero, Jessica Jacobs, Gail Mazur, and Abe Louise Young. Register online. | ||||||||
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Date:
October 2, 2020 - - |
Venue: Blue Light Press reading with Maxine Kumin and Ellery Akers |
Address:
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| Notes: | ||||||||
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Date:
September 20, 2020 7:00pm - |
Venue: Petaluma Poetry Walk |
Address:
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| Notes: Reading hosted by Sandra Anfang at Aqus Café, CANCELLED due to wildfires | ||||||||
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Date:
September 20, 2020 - - |
Venue: Book Launch for The Exkphrastic Writer, ed. Janee Baugher |
Address:
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| Notes: | ||||||||
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Date:
August 3, 2020 4:00pm - |
Venue: The Frost Place Poetry Seminar |
Address:
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| Notes: Online via Zoom in Pacific Time - Reading with Patricia Smith | ||||||||
