Join us for a night of poetry with local poets! This is a free event and some books will be available for purchase in store. The poets featured are:
Jess Smith
Jess Smith is the author of Lady Smith (University of Akron Press, 2025). Originally from Georgia, she is an Assistant Professor of Practice at Texas Tech University, where she also directs the MFA in creative writing. Her poetry, essays, and criticism can be found in Prairie Schooner, Waxwing, 32 Poems, The Rumpus, and other journals. She received her MFA from The New School and is the recipient of support from the Sewanee Writers' Conference and the Vermont Studio Center.
TJ McLemore
TJ is a former Pinsky Teaching Fellow at Boston University and an alumnus of Baylor University, where he won the undergraduate Academy of American Poets’ Prize. His poems, interviews, and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in New England Review, Crazyhorse, 32 Poems, Michigan Quarterly Review, Adroit Journal, Massachusetts Review, SLICE Magazine, Kenyon Review Online, and other journals. Individual poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, selected for Best New Poets, and nominated for a Pushcart. He has received awards and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Adroit Journal, Boston University, Poetry by the Sea, and Crab Orchard Review. Currently, TJ is pursuing a doctorate in English literature and environmental humanities at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Jennifer Loyd
Jennifer Loyd is a poet, translator, and a former editor for Copper Nickel, West Branch, and Sycamore Review. She is the author of Ghost in the Archive, winner of the Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize. For her poetry exploring the archives of Rachel Carson, she has received a Stadler Fellowship, as well as travel grants for research from Purdue University, where she earned an MFA. Her poems and prose, which explore the intersection between private voice and public narratives, appear in Best New Poets 2022, The Southern Review, The Rumpus, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, and elsewhere.
Josh Luckenbach
Josh Luckenbach is a poet whose recent work has appeared in The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Nimrod, New Ohio Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Nashville Review, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from the University of Arkansas and his BA from the University of Virginia where he graduated from the Area Program in Poetry Writing. He serves as Poetry Editor for EcoTheo Review and as Web Editor for the Coalition for Community Writing.
