reading

Book Celebration: Incidental Pollen by Ellen Austin-Li

June 22 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EDT

Join us for a celebration of the launch of Incidental Pollen, the debut full-length collection from Ellen Austin-Li. She will be joined by her friend and mentor, poet Pauletta Hansel. Expect some poems and some conversation around the making of this beautiful new collection.

INCIDENTAL POLLEN
RUNNER-UP FOR THE 2023 ARTHUR SMITH POETRY PRIZE

Incidental pollen refers to pollen that collects on bees as they forage for nectar—like the cumulative life experiences we cannot help but carry. The hive serves as a thematic thread in this collection that explores the space between past and present, shame and redemption, grief and resilience. Poetic forms lend meaning—like the villanelle that captures the grief-driven magical thinking of the speaker. Are recurring red fox sightings visitations from her deceased father and nephew? Trauma and loss appear in these tonally rich and imagistic poems, but the arc ultimately centers on the search for belonging, the attempt to recreate home.

Free

About Ellen

Ellen Austin-Li’s first full-length collection, Incidental Pollen—a 2023 Trio Award finalist, a 2024 Wisconsin Poetry Series semi-finalist, and runner-up for the Arthur Smith Poetry Prize—is forthcoming from Madville Publishing. Finishing Line Press published her two chapbooks, Firefly (2019) and Lockdown: Scenes From Early in the Pandemic (2021). Her work appears in Artemis, Thimble Literary, The Maine Review, Salamander, Lily Poetry Review, Rust & Moth, and many other places. She’s a Best of the Net nominee and holds an MFA in poetry from the Solstice Low-Residency Program. Ellen co-founded the monthly reading series, “Poetry Night at Sitwell’s,” in Cincinnati, where she lives.

About Pauletta

Pauletta Hansel’s ten poetry collections include Will There Also Be Singing? (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, 2024); Heartbreak Tree (Madville Publications, 2022), which won the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2023 North American Book Award; and Palindrome (Dos Madres Press, 2017) winner of Berea College’s Weatherford Award in Poetry. Her writing has been featured in Oxford American, Rattle, Appalachian Journal, Still: The Journal, Verse Daily and Poetry Daily, among others. Pauletta was Cincinnati’s first poet laureate, and the 2022 Writer in Residence for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.

In Celebration of Saara Myrene Raappana

An evening of poetry and remembrance hosted by Eric Doise, husband of late poet Saara Myrene Raappana. Eric was joined by Lauren K. Carlson and Halley Cotton, all of whom read from Saara’s collected work, Chamber After Chamber, which was awarded the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Saara was also the author of the chapbooks A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press) and Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press).

A gifted poet and teacher, Saara left a legacy of not only powerful and award-winning poetry, but also as an educator, mental health pioneer and animal lover. Her great warmth, intelligence and kindness was evident to all who knew her and will be celebrated in this one-of-a-kind reading.

We invite you purchase her book. Please use the code CHAMBER at checkout to receive a 30% discount. A donor has offered to contribute $10 for every book purchased at a reading to her scholarship fund. If you already have her book, we also invite you to make a gift in her honor by donating to her scholarship fund by making a contribution and writing Saara’s name in the comments field.

The Reading

Celebration of Saara Myrene Raappana

November 12, 2024 @ 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST

The Notebooks Collective invites you to an evening of poetry and remembrance hosted by Eric Doise, husband of late poet Saara Myrene Raappana. Eric will be joined by Lauren K. Carlson and Halley Cotton, all of whom will read from Saara’s collected work, Chamber After Chamber, which was awarded the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Saara was also the author of the chapbooks A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press) and Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press).

This event is free and all are welcome; we also invite you purchase her book. Please use the code CHAMBER at checkout to receive a 30% discount. A donor has offered to contribute $10 for every book purchased at a reading to her scholarship fund. If you already have her book, we also invite you to make a gift in her honor by donating to her scholarship fund.

This event is virtual. RSVP to receive the Zoom link.

Free

About the Readers

Lauren K. Carlson is the author of the chapbook Animals I Have Killed (Comstock Review Chapbook Prize 2018). Her work has recently appeared in Crab Creek Review, Salamander Magazine, Terrain, The Windhover and Waxwing. In 2021 she won the Levis Stipend from Friends of Writers for her full-length collection Steelhead (forthcoming 2025). Lauren currently serves as editor for Tinderbox Poetry Journal and holds an MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.

Halley Cotton is the managing editor of the Birmingham Poetry Review, contributing editor for NELLE, and production manager for both publications. Her work has appeared in places such as The Greensboro Review, Poetry South, and Smokelong Quarterly, among others. Cotton teaches in the English department at UAB. When she’s not busy kayaking or finding four-leaf clovers, she’s studying folklore and writing/reading poetry.

Eric Doise is an associate professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University. His work has appeared in The Routledge Companion to Literature and Trauma and journals including South Central Review, Extrapolation, and Film Criticism.

About Saara

Born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Saara Myrene Raappana served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southern China before moving to Southwest Minnesota. Her newest book, Chamber After Chamber, won the 2023 Juniper Prize and was nominated for the National Book Award. She also wrote the chapbooks A Story of America Goes Walking (in collaboration with artist Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton, Shechem Press, 2016) and Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press, 2015). Her poem “Letter To My Teenaged Self: You Are a House, You Are a Hammer, You’re the Momentum of the Nail” was selected as a Best of the Net Winner by Kazim Ali. She received grants and scholarships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

The Notebooks Reading: Video

On April 16, 2024, the Notebooks Collective held its first collective reading. We did so in honor of National Poetry Month and to celebrate the collective impact we can have when we work together. This reading will allow us to share the brilliant words of our collective while raising money for direct aid to Gaza. With the help of guests and readers, we raised $600 dollars to donate across three fundraisers. As the situation worsens, new ways to help are being added to the Operation Olive Branch spreadsheet. Please consider giving time or money to this urgent need.

Featuring!

The reading features the work of Quintin Collins, Sara Moore Wagner, Lisa Allen, Claire Schwartz, Sarah Ghazal Ali, Kathi Aguero, Jessica Johnson, Suzanne Frank, Anne-Marie Oomen, Meg Kearney, jason b crawford, M. Soledad Caballero, Marcia Karp, Eileen Cleary, Rebecca Kirk Connors, Karen Rigby & Jessica Cuello.