It was an honor to give a featured poetry reading recently on Lit Youngstown’s First Wednesday Readers Series. My deep thanks to the wonderful Karen Schubert, Lit Youngstown founder and executive director, for inviting me to read.

Currently in its tenth year, Lit Youngstown enriches northeastern Ohio with a wide range of literary offerings, including readings, book discussions, writing workshops and camps, and a Fall Literary Festival encompassing writing in all genres. Each month Lit Youngstown’s First Wednesday Reader’s Series hosts readings by established writers in and beyond Ohio.

Learn more about Lit Youngstown on this episode of The Casey Malone Show, Youngstown’s arts and culture TV program, which filmed the segment during my reading on the series:

Poetry can happen anywhere – on the page, on the stage, in libraries, coffee shops, parks – even bowling alleys. Wherever there is a heart that bursts into poetry and ears and/or eyes to take it in, poetry has a home. And where there is poetry, there is the possibility to step out of our comfort zones, approach new ways to experience the world, and grow in empathy.