To say I’m thrilled to be invited to read from my work during the Associated Writing Program’s upcoming conference in Tampa is an understatement.

Two supercool journals I’ve recently published work in, Rise Up Review and SWWIM Every Day, are cosponsoring an offsite reading Thursday, March 8 at 9 p.m. at The Attic Cafe, E. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 400, Tampa. The company I’ll be reading with is amazing and so are the editors of these publications, whom I admire and am deeply grateful to for their generosity and kindness in supporting my work.

This will be my first-ever AWP conference, and I’m so excited to be able to go. Today I printed out my schedule and I’m looking forward to time spent at the bookfair and to the inspiration I know I’ll get in whatever talks I make it to. The only problem is, you just can’t possibly do everything, so…I’m kind of giving myself over to the whole experience at this point.

I was already counting the days, and when I heard from the amazing Sonia Greenfield of Rise Up Review that details of the reading had been finalized and I was on the list of readers (she’d asked contributors attending the conference who might be there and interested in reading, but you never know how these things will shake out) I just really had to pinch myself. The line-up, you guys…

Deets here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/272498193286158/permalink/272500209952623/

Pasted in below is copy from the posted event with the list of readers I’ll be a little nervous, but a lot honored, to meet and read with:

Please join us for this AWP off-site reading featuring readers from SWWIM and Rise Up Review.

Featured readers:
MB McLatchey (SWWIM)
Caridad Moro-Gronlier (SWWIM)
Jenny Molberg (SWIMM)
Sarah Carey (both)
Nicole Callihan (both)
Michele Leavitt (both)
Jessica Johnson (RUR)
Nickole Brown (RUR)
Arminé Iknadossian (RUR)

SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami) is co-directed and co-curated by Jen Karetnick and Catherine Esposito Prescott, two women writers and poets based in Miami, Florida. SWWIM celebrates and promotes women and women-identifying /femme-presenting writers through a year-round reading series held at The Betsy-South Beach and through a digital publishing platform, SWWIM Every Day.

The Rise Up Review is a landing site for the poetry of opposition. We feature poems dedicated to making the political personal and vice versa. The poems on Rise Up are meant to be disseminated like tiny manifestos. William Carlos Williams says that “it is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][and women] die miserably everyday for lack of what is found there.” Poetry has the ability to address injustices and oppression in a manner that is both lyrical and intimate. The best such instances of this power avoid the didactic, because we learn about human evils and frailties, human love and strength, from the stories we tell. Poetry is a hammer is a flame is a rebel flag is an olive branch. We proffer it to you.

The Rise Up Review[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]