Events

Upcoming

September 12, 2020, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Poems Only You Can Write: In this virtual workshop, you’ll learn how to transform the events of your life into successful poems that resonate with readers. By examining the work of well-known poets, we’ll explore craft and creative choices that help us open up our personal narratives to connect with readers’ own experiences. Through prompts and exercises, you’ll generate drafts of poems and strategies for developing them. For more information and registration, see this site.

Previous

June 6, 20209, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4 p.m. Memory and Myth: A Primal Source for Poems. I’m pleased and honored to be leading a virtual one-day intensive class at The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville. We’ll generate and write poems rooted in early memories and family myths. If you have family, you have poems! For more information and registration, see this site.

March 8, 2020, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Telling a Story in Verse: Writing Narrative Poems. I’ll be leading a free workshop with award-winning poet Steve Cushman at the Greensboro Central Library. We’ll discuss the craft of narrative poetry, considering voice, point of view, character, pacing, and setting. You’ll read contemporary examples and, through prompts and exercises, begin writing poems of your own. Poets and writers of all levels of experience are welcome. For details and registration, please contact chris.fox@greensboro-nc.gov.

February 15, 2020, 3 p.m. I’ll read with other Triangle and Triad poets featured in Kakalak 2019. Published by Main Street Rag, Kakalak is an annual anthology of poetry and art by or about North and South Carolina, the people who live here, and the places that draw us here. For more info, please contact me.

January 19, 2020, Sunday, 2 p.m. I’ll be reading at McIntyre’s Fine Books with fellow members of Black Socks Poets, a poetry critique group which has met regularly for 30 years. JS Absher, Grey Brown, Ralph Earle, Maura High, Paul Jones, Debra Kaufman and myself will be featured readers. McIntyre’s is a celebrated independent bookstore located in Fearrington Village, halfway between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro off 15-501. For more info, see this site.

January 15, 2020 6 p.m. Poets on Love and Loss. I’ll be reading with Pam Baggett, Al Maginnes, and D. M. Spratley. We’ll share poems about people, places, and times that we love and let go. Free and open to the public, the event will take place at the Orange County Main Library, 137 E. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC. This program is supported by the Orange County Arts Commission. For more info see this site.

November 2, 2019, Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. New Bern, NC. Poems Only You Can Write. I’m delighted to lead this workshop in which we’ll explore ways to generate and write poems rooted in our early memories, family myths and collective stories. Poets and writers of all levels of experience are welcome to attend. Sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society in collaboration with Nexus Poets of New Bern, and Carteret Writers. For details and registration, please contact me.

October 30, 2019, Wednesday, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Join me and Joan Barasovska (Birthing Age) for our readings as part of the monthly Poetry for Everybody Series organized by Dee Stribling, Hillsborough Poet Laureate. Bring your own poems about work and family to share during the Open Mic. Hope to see you there! Free and open to the public, the event will take place at the Orange County Main Library, 137 E. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC. For more info see this site.

October 17, 2019, Thursday, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Are you ready to hear outstanding poets? Come to an evening sponsored by the West End Poetry Festival, Carrboro, NC. I’ll be reading with other poets representing a range of poetic styles, ages, professions, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. The theme is Work and Reconciliation. Venue is Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro. The Festival offers four days (October 16 – 19) of events free and open to the public. For more information, www.westendpoetryfestival.org

September 29, 2019, Sunday, 2 p.m. I’ll be reading at McIntyre’s Fine Books in the good company of Kathy Ackerman, Stan Absher, Steve Cushman and Becky Gould Gibson. Each of us is a winner of the Lena Shull Book Award, sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society. McIntyre’s is a celebrated independent bookstore located in Fearrington Village, halfway between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro off 15-501. Sunday afternoons at Fearrington are delightful. Come early and have lunch or coffee, stroll through the shops, and meet the goats and Belted Galloways. For more info, see this site.

September 25, 2019, Wednesday 7 p.m. I’m excited to be a featured reader with the wonderful poet Steve Cushman in the Waterbean Poetry Night at the Mic Reading Series. Join us and bring your own poems for the open mic. Waterbean Coffee, 9705 Sam Furr Road, Huntersville, NC. @waterbeanpoetrynightatthemic.

September 15, 2019, Sunday, 4 p.m. I’ll be reading with other poets whose work appears in Heron Clan VI, an international anthology edited by Doug Stuber, at the Visions International Reading Series. Join us at Aversboro Coffee, 1401 Aversboro Road, Garner. 

September 11, 2019, Wednesday 7 p.m. Black Socks Poets will read at the Cary Arts Center in conjunction with the exhibit Stone, Water, Time featuring the art of Lyric Kinard and verse by Maura High. Come see this beautiful exhibit and hear fine poetry! 101 Dry Avenue, Cary, NC.

March 30, 2019, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4 p.m. Memory and Myth: A Primal Source for Poems. I’m pleased and honored to be leading a one-day intensive class at The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville. We’ll generate and write poems rooted in early memories and family myths. If you have family, you have poems! Join us in beautiful Asheville. For more information and registration, see this site.

March 16, 2019, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon. Ready to send out your book or chapbook? Attend a free workshop on how to best format and present a manuscript for contest entry and publication. The panel will feature myself and poets Stan Absher, Steve Cushman and Becky Gould Gibson. Each of us is a past winner of the Lena Shull Book Award sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society. The workshop will take place in Meeting Room C at the Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. For more info, see this site.

February 27, 2019, Wednesday, 7 p.m. I’m pleased to be featured in the 4 on 4th series, a collaboration of Bookmarks Bookstore and Winston Salem Writers. I’ll be reading along with fiction and non-fiction writers Kristen Fanarakis (The Debutante’s Guide to Wall Street), Joe Lineberry (Let’s Stop Playing Games), and Richard Sieg (Love After Life). Join us at Bookmarks, 634 W. Fourth Street #110, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. For more info, see this site.

February 2, 2019, Saturday, 7 p.m. I’ll be reading with fine poets Steve Cushman and Mike Gaspeny at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro. Come for a lively and entertaining evening of poetry, and enjoy food and drink at the bookstore’s café. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401. Join us: we’d love your company! For more info, see this site.

November 2, 2019, Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. New Bern, NC. Poems Only You Can Write. I’m delighted to lead this workshop in which we’ll explore ways to generate and write poems rooted in our early memories, family myths and collective stories. Poets and writers of all levels of experience are welcome to attend. Sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society in collaboration with Nexus Poets of New Bern, and Carteret Writers. For details and registration, please contact me.

October 30, 2019, Wednesday, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Join me and Joan Barasovska (Birthing Age) for our readings as part of the monthly Poetry for Everybody Series organized by Dee Stribling, Hillsborough Poet Laureate. Bring your own poems about work and family to share during the Open Mic. Hope to see you there! Free and open to the public, the event will take place at the Orange County Main Library, 137 E. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC. For more info see this site.

October 22, 2018, Monday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. No Longer Silent: Poets on Family Violence. Join me and three other poets as we honor Domestic Violence Awareness Month with poems about experiences with family and/or intimate partner violence, and the journey through pain to empowerment. Reading with me will be Pam Baggett, Terri Greco, and Priscilla Webster-Williams. Free and open to the public, the event will take place at the Orange County Main Library, 137 E. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC. This program is supported by the Orange County Arts Commission. For more info see this site.

October 17, 2019, Thursday, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Are you ready to hear outstanding poets? Come to an evening sponsored by the West End Poetry Festival, Carrboro, NC. I’ll be reading with other poets representing a range of poetic styles, ages, professions, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. The theme is Work and Reconciliation. Venue is Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro. The Festival offers four days (October 16 – 19) of events free and open to the public. For more information, www.westendpoetryfestival.org

October 13, 2018, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. Memory and Myth: A Primal Source for Poems. I’m pleased and honored to be leading a one-day intensive class at The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville. We’ll generate and write poems rooted in early memories and family myths. If you have family, you have poems! Join us for an autumn day in beautiful Asheville. For more info and registration, see this site.

December 3, 2017 Sunday 2 p.m. I’ll be reading from Waiting for the Hurricane in the Sundry Poets series at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books. Quail Ridge Books, North Hills, 4209 -100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh NC 27609. For more info see this site.

October 22, 2017 Sunday 2:00 p.m. I’ll read from my new book at McIntyre’s Books, Fearrington Village Center, 15/501 between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill, NC. Sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society. For more info see this site.

October 17, 2017 Tuesday 6:00-8:00 p.m. Poets on Family. Join me and three other poets as we explore the joys, complexities, and sometimes devastating complications of family relationships. I’ll be reading with J.S. Absher, Terri Kirby Erickson and Tsitsi Jaji at the Orange County Main Library, 137 Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC. For more info see this site.

October 1, 2017 Sunday 3:00 p.m. I’ll be reading in Asheville at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café as part of its Poetrio series. Malaprop’s, 55 Haywood St 28801 Asheville, NC. For more info see this site.

July 13, 2017  Launch and reading from Waiting for the Hurricane & Reading,  Flyleaf Books, 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC. For more info see this site.

April 29, 2017I led a workshop titled Memory, Myth & Family: A Primal Source for Poems at Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory as part of Poetry Day 2017. See more info about the co-sponsor.

January 21, 2017  Reading and presentation of the NCPS 2017 Lena M. Shull Book Award at NCPS Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, Southern Pines. For more info see this site.