Women Who Submit - ATX 2nd Anniversary Reading

Join us for an afternoon of poetry and prose to celebrate the second anniversary of the ATX Chapter of Women Who Submit.

Women Who Submit is an organization that began in Los Angeles and now has many chapters across the United States. The organization seeks to empower women and nonbinary writers by creating physical and virtual spaces for sharing information, supporting and encouraging submissions to literary journals, and clarifying the submission and publication process. The Austin chapter began in late 2023 and meets to write, share information and submit work the second Saturday of every month.

Featuring:

Cristina Adams
Sara Bawany
Roanna Flowers
Hollie Hardy
Meg Jerit
Heidi Kasa
Ramona Reeves
Laura Villareal
and more!

Hosted by:
Hollie Hardy & Meg Jerit

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Saturday, December 6, 2025
4pm - 6pm

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Epoch Coffee (The Village)
2700 W Anderson Ln.
Austin, TX

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Free Event

SNS | 11-29-25

Join us online for the last Saturday Night Special of 2025 — an incredible evening of literary performance and open mic readings

Featuring:
Allison Goldstein & Heidi Kasa

Theme: The End
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

SNS will return at the end of January, following our annual holiday hiatus in December.

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Saturday, November 29, 2025
8:00pm Central time

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 876 4729 5193

Passcode:  176048

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Author Bios

Allison Goldstein is a poet, writer, and visual artist. She received her MFA in Poetry from California College of the Arts. Her horror movie-themed poetry chapbook, In The Night, In The Dark was released by Bottlecap Press in 2025. Her work has also appeared in a variety of literary and cultural publications including Not Very Quiet: The Anthology, Saw Palm, Gyroscope Review, Last Girls Club, and Maximum Rocknroll. Allison currently lives and writes in South Florida. You can learn more about her work by visiting allisongoldsteinpoetry.com

Buy the book: https://bottlecap.press/collections/bottlecap-features/products/thenight

Read Interview: https://bebarbar.com/author-spotlight-allison-goldstein

Heidi Kasa is the author of the just released poetry collection The Bullet Takes Forever (Mouthfeel Press), the forthcoming flash fiction collection The Beginners, winner of the 2023 Digging Press Chapbook Contest, and Split (Monday Night Press). She received the 2024 Plaza Prose Poetry Prize and the 2023 Poetry Super Highway Prize for poems from The Bullet Takes Forever. Kasa's work has appeared in Barrelhouse, The Brooklyn Rail, The Pinch Journal Online, and elsewhere. She works as an editor in Austin and creates handmade artist books. Find her at heidikasa.com

Buy the Bullet Book: https://www.mouthfeelbooks.com/product/the-bullet-takes-forever-by-heidi-kasa/78

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on SUNDAY afternoon, November 23, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

November Writing Prompt: The End

Every ending holds its own kind of beginning. The last line, the last light, the quiet after— each an invitation to pay attention. What dissolves? What remains? “The end” can mean closure or collapse, relief or revelation. It can be literal — the end of a story, a relationship, a world — or abstract, a threshold crossed, a transformation underway. The inspiration poems below remind us that endings are never just one thing — they are multitudes: elegy, echo, edge, and turning point.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

• Write toward a final moment: the last time, last word, last touch, last breath.

• Imagine the world ending — tenderly, absurdly, beautifully, or not at all.

• Explore a personal ending: of love, of a habit, of an era — what new self begins to appear in its wake?

• Try writing the ending first — what story or image leads up to it?

• Write from the voice of something ending: the year, a city, a species, a promise.

• Consider endings that aren’t tragic — what if the end is liberation, release, or relief?

• Or make it playful: the end of a TV show, a meal, a dream, a sentence — what lingers after?

Or something else! As ever, please feel free to follow whatever inspiration takes you! As ever, the theme is optional—an invitation, not a requirement; feel free to interpret loosely or ignore.

INSPIRATION

At the End of the Day By Shira Dentz

The End Game of Bloom By Deborah Landau

Quartet for the End of Time By Alison C. Rollins

After the Beginning, Before the End By Deborah Brown

The End By Emily Berry

Into Darkness by Karen Marker

The End of Crisis By Cindy Juyoung Ok

The End By Dorothea Lasky

The End of Television By Sara Nicholson

The End of Marriage By Lavinia Greenlaw

All the American Poets Have Titled Their New Books “The End” By Cornelius Eady

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Want more writing prompts?

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Women Who Submit-ATX Symposium

The Austin Chapter of Women Who Submit hosts its first symposium! Join us for a half day of writing workshops and panel discussions in a cozy backyard garden in South Austin! Write, mingle with local authors, and buy books!

Women Who Submit seeks to empower women and nonbinary writers by creating physical and virtual spaces for sharing information, supporting and encouraging submissions to literary journals, and clarifying the submission and publication process.  

The Austin chapter meets upstairs at the Central Market Café on second Saturdays. Become a WWS-ATX member to attend for free! Message for more information. We are open to women-identified and nonbinary writers!

Schedule

Meet & Greet: 9am – 9:30am
Coffee & tea in the fall garden

SESSION I: 9:30am – 10:30am
How and Why to Submit to Journals (Ramona Reeves)

SESSION II: 10:45am – Noon
Found Language, Lost Letters: A Multi-Genre Write-In (Hollie Hardy)

SESSION III: 12:15pm – 1:30 pm
Panel on Publishing and Writing Process (Panelists: Jess Hagemann (fiction), Laura Villareal (poetry), Paige Schilt (nonfiction) moderated by Cristina Adams)

Afterparty 1:30pm
Lunch at a nearby restaurant (optional)

Hosted by:

Ramona Reeves
ATX Chapter Lead

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Saturday, November 22, 2025
9am – 1:30pm

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South Austin
(RSVP for Address)

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Free for WWS Members
$20 donation for nonmembers (by invite only)

SNS | 10-25-25

Join us online for the 15th Annual SNS Halloween Reading, Open Mic
& Costume Party!

Featuring:
Jeffrey Bryant & Valerie Nies

Theme: Halloween
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, October 25, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 843 5908 9805

Passcode: 328842

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Author Bios

Jeffrey Bryant is a Pushcart-nominated queer poet. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the LA Times, LA Weekly, Synkroniciti Magazine, Quill and Echo and Tension Literary, as well as the anthologies Coiled Serpent, Altadena Literary Review, Shadowplay Literary Journal, 13 Poets for a Pigeon Kiss, and Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts. His debut collection The Catacombs of Vanished Lovers is out now from Cherry Pie Press @thecherrypiepress

To get a copy of the book, email your name and address to thecherrypiepress@gmail.com

Valerie Nies is a comedian, poet, and gluten enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She is the author of Snacks for the Love Hungry (World Stage Press) and the chapbook Imaginary Frenemies. Valerie produces a monthly comedy and literary arts show called Half Empty Half Full at ColdTowne Theater in Austin, Texas. She previously hosted the acclaimed all-women’s stand-up showcase Smile More for four years. Her lauded stand-up comedy class is currently offered at Merlin Works, and she has given lectures on humor in storytelling in poetry at The University of Texas at Austin, New York University, and Community Literature Initiative in Los Angeles. Valerie’s poetry has appeared in publications such as Rattle, SOFTBLOW, and Drunk Monkeys. Her humor has appeared in McSweeney’s, Reductress, Jezebel, Bitch, and elsewhere. Connect on social @valerieknees or at valerienies.com.

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, October 18, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

October Writing Prompt

For the 15th Annual Saturday Night Special Halloween Open Mic, we’re taking up the classic theme.

Tell us a scary story; sing us a spooky song; write us a ghost poem about your pumpkin spice latte. Anything Halloween or Halloween adjacent is on theme.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

• Think: evil, demons, zombies, vampires, sirens, witches, werewolves, ghosts, predators, clowns, the circus, the horsemen of the apocalypse, blood-thirsty or benign creatures, Bigfoot, fairies, mutants, psychopaths, politicians, parents, screaming children, bullies, bosses, exes, oppressors, societal cruelties, false fears, monsters in masquerade, the misunderstood…

• Think: pumpkins, scarecrows, cemeteries, black cats, bats, harvest moons, apple cider, candy, hay rides, trick-or-treat

• What costumes have you dressed up in? What costume parties have you attended?

• What defines a monster? What monsters have you known? What monsters have you been? Were they real or imagined?

• What is grotesque? Unthinkable?

• What are you afraid of? How is that fear literalized?

• Think: things in the woods, under the bed, outside the window, inside the house, in the past, in your dreams.

• Think: pool drains, sharks, heights, blood, poison, ants, failure, the sun, disfigurement, dying alone

• Think: fire, flood, earthquakes, war, death, prejudice, injustice, grief, silence

• Have you ever seen a ghost? An apparition? Experienced the supernatural? Or know someone who has? What happened?

• In what ways are legacies, generational pain, memories, photos, even DNA kinds of ghosts?

• Consider: palimpsest as ghost, the way a city builds on the bones of the past.

• Think: haunted house, graveyard, poltergeist, possession, exorcism, bumps in the night

• Whom have you lost? What would you say to their ghost?

• What’s your best, craziest, strangest, or scariest Halloween story? Make a poem or flash story of it (3 minutes or less!)

Or something else! As ever, please feel free to follow whatever inspiration takes you! As ever, the theme is optional—an invitation, not a requirement; feel free to interpret loosely or ignore.

Below are some of my favorite Halloween poems and short stories on our theme to inspire you.

INSPIRATION

Poems

Jane Goodall and Bruce Springsteen Contemplate their Childlessness by John Dudek
Little Spells by Jennifer Sweeney
All Souls by Michael Collier
Windigo by Louise Erdrich
Bildungsroman by Sam Sax
Ghost by Cynthia Huntington
Field of Skulls by Mary Karr
Monster in the Lake by Martín Espada
Monster by Jason Irwin
The Witch Has Told You a Story by Ava Leavell Haymon
Halloween in the Anthropocene, 2015 by Craig Santos Perez
Strange Are the Products by George Oppen
Halloween by Lindsay Turner

Short Fiction

The Hitman short short fiction by T. C. Boyle
Pumpkins flash fiction by Francine Prose
The Anatomy of Desire flash fiction by John L’Heureux

Bonus

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers! McSweeney’s Essay by Collin Nissan

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Want more writing prompts?

Join Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets!

SNS | 9-27-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic readings

Featuring: Jessica Hincapie + Cintia Santana

Theme: Strange Days
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, September 27, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 837 2756 4935

Passcode: 762437

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Author Bios

Cintia Santana’s debut poetry collection, The Disordered Alphabet (Four Way Books 2023) won a Northern California Book Award. She teaches fiction and poetry workshops in Spanish, as well as literary translation courses at Stanford University. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets 2016 and 2020, Beloit Poetry Journal, Guernica, The Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, Narrative, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, The Threepenny Review, West Branch, and elsewhere. Santana’s work has been supported by CantoMundo and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She lives in Northern California.

Buy the book: https://fourwaybooks.com/site/the-disordered-alphabet/

Jessica Hincapié’s debut poetry collection Bloomer won the Louise Bogan Award for Artistic Merit and Excellence (Trio House Press, 2022). She is the winner of RHINO Poetry’s 2024 Founder’s Prize and her work has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes, finalist for Radar Poetry's 2020 Coniston Prize judged by Ada Limón, as well as a recipient of a 2022 Cuttyhunk Writers’ Residency. She has work out in numerous publications, including Gulf Stream Magazine, Poetry Northwest, Narrative Mag, and more. Originally from South Florida, she received her MFA in Poetry from The University of Texas (2018), where she won the Michael Adams Prize in Poetry. She also served as Bat City Review’s first Online Content and Web Editor.

Buy the book: https://www.jessicahincapie.com/bloomer

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, September 20, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

September Writing Prompt: Strange Days

Sometimes the world tilts—ordinary moments shimmer sideways, reality wears a new mask, or what we thought we knew grows alien. Sometimes reading the news renders the whole day strange, the world otherworldly. Strangeness can be absurd and funny, political and sharp, surreal or quietly tender. This month’s theme reminds us that creativity thrives in the uncanny, in the defamiliarizing of the everyday in the bizarre little fractures, where possibility rushes in, unexpected. Lean into the strange. Make it weird.

SOME IDEAS

• The Strangest Day — Write about a particular day that stands out in your memory because it felt so strange, so surreal, so different from every other day — perhaps because of a disaster, an election, a holiday, an outing, an unexpected visit, a stroke of luck, a series of surprises.

• Reimagine the ordinary — Like Ada Limón’s “Almost Forty” or Jodie Hollander’s “Avenue of Plane Trees,” take something everyday (a birthday, a street, a passing thought) and tilt it until it feels uncanny or surreal.

• Prophets and absurdities — Inspired by Barbara Perez’s “Strange Little Prophets” or Kurt Cole Eidsvig’s “Donald Trump Meditating on Love,” invent strange prophets, absurd teachers, or surreal guides to lead us through this moment.

• Possibility in strangeness — Following Chen Chen’s “When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities,” write a piece that imagines wild, playful, or impossible futures. What strange wish might reframe the present?

• The strangeness of time — Robin Ekiss’s “The Bones of August” and Kunwar Narain’s “A Strange Day” remind us how uncanny it feels when time itself feels off-kilter. Write about a day, month, or season that arrived bent, skewed, or haunted.

• Apocalypse, again — In Franny Choi’s “The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On,” the surreal overlaps with the political. Write about living through strange times—apocalyptic headlines, climate unraveling, political absurdities—but focus on the surreal textures of daily survival within it.

• Space oddities — Bob Hicok’s “The Age of Space Travel” reminds us that science and technology make the present itself feel surreal. Write about invention, science, or technology that makes your life stranger than you expected.

• Defamiliarize the familiar — Pick an object in your room right now and describe it until it becomes strange: a spoon, a lamp, a pair of socks, a window. Let it morph into metaphor, prophecy, dreamscape.

• Or something else! This month’s theme invites playfulness. Let yourself take wild leaps!
  

INSPIRATION

The Age of Space Travel By Bob Hicok

Almost Forty By Ada Limón

Strange Little Prophets By Barbara Perez

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities By Chen Chen

The Bones of August By Robin Ekiss

Avenue of Plane Trees By Jodie Hollander

A Strange Day By Kunwar Narain

Donald Trump Meditating on Love By Kurt Cole Eidsvig

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On By Franny Choi

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

SNS | 8-30-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic readings

Featuring: Beth Marquez + Brendan Constantine

Theme: Games
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, August 30, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 864 3529 3101

Passcode: 546291

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Author Bios

Beth Marquez has recent publications in Lit Shark, Cathexis, October Hill, and Spillway. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, a 2017 Pink Door Fellow, and holds three mathematics degrees. She is a freelance statistician, poet, and singer-songwriter residing in Los Angeles.

Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many of the nation’s standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, Tin House, Virginia Quarterly, and Poem-a-Day. Recent collections include ‘Dementia, My Darling’ (2016) from Red Hen Press and ‘Bouncy Bounce’ (2018) a chapbook from Blue Horse Press. He has received support and commissions from the Getty Museum, James Irvine Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. Brendan teaches at the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His latest book ‘The Opposites Game’ is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2026 and is available for preorder now.

Buy Brendan’s books here: https://brendanconstantine.com/bookstore/

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, August 23, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

August Writing Prompt: Games

It’s game time! Let’s play! This month’s theme is open to all kinds of games—board games, word games, sports games, card games, video games, slot machines, political games, lotteries, childhood games, game night, Squid Games, Game of Thrones, dating games, bingo, bedroom games, mind games, game shows, murder mystery games… you get the idea. There are no rules. But nobody wins at strip go-fish.

INSPIRATION

WHY I Am/ Because You Are by Andi Myles and Brendan Constantine

The Opposites Game by Brendan Constantine
This is an animated video version of the poem produced by TED-Ed as part of its series "There's a Poem for That"

Un-Velvet by Beth Marquez

Chess by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Game by Laura Kasischke

Diogenes Invents a Game by Mary Karr

Khaleesi Says by Leah Umansky

The End Game of Bloom by Deborah Landau

Sims: The Game by Elizabeth Spires

A Dream of Games by Josephine Jacobsen

War Machines Dress Up as Drag Queens by Mohammed El-Kurd

As Capitalism Gasps for Breath I Watch the Knicks Game by Yesenia Montilla

Game Prayer by Al Ortolani

Dogmatic Statement concerning the Game of Chess: Theme for a Series of Pictures by Ezra Pound

Fun and Games with a Sphere by Ko Un

Sideline Poetry by Sam Cohen
Poetry series assembled from the conversations overheard at children’s soccer games

SOME IDEAS

• Try out Brendan Constantine’s Question & Answer partner poem game (read the rules/ process at the end of the sample poem and find a willing partner to collaborate with (or join the write-in).

• Write about a current hobby, childhood game or sport you loved or hated, won or lost, or weren’t allowed to play—the Barbie you couldn’t have, the team you weren’t picked for.

• Tag, You’re It. Write a chase poem. Each line or sentence should push the action forward until someone is caught—or no one is.

• Create a whimsical piece using Oulipian contraints such as S +7 or an e-excluding lipogram

• Brendan Constantine’s Opposites Game asks “what is the opposite of a gun?” To play your own version of this game, try flipping a cliché, idiom, or truth on its head until the meaning transforms into something strange or profound. Or write in terms of impossible opposites.

• Write about a memorable game night or sporting event you attended

• Write about cheating in a game, at life, in love, in politics.

• Write about dating games—literal or psychological, yours or someone else’s, real or reality TV

• Write about a competition in which winning feels like losing, or losing feels like winning. This could be about sports, romance, politics, or an internal battle.

• Write about rules—social rules, parental rules, governmental rules, rules for being a person, rules for a real or imaginary game. The rules can be absurd, sinister, beautiful, or heartbreakingly unfair.

• Imagine life as a game or simulation—Sims, D&D, Candy Crush, Monopoly, Checkers, dice, or something only you could invent. Who’s holding the controller? Who’s pulling your strings?

• Write about the end game, the Hail Mary, the bases loaded, the nuke, the checkmate. Borrow from chess, sports, relationships, war games, or apocalypse scenarios. Focus on what happens when the pieces are few, the clock is almost out, and every move matters.

• Write about a game rigged from the start—either in your favor or against you. Who set it up this way? What happens when you realize it?

• Instructions Missing—Imagine opening a game box and finding only the pieces—no instructions. Your piece could be the chaotic game you invent on the spot, or the confusion, arguments, and alliances that erupt instead.

• Or something else! As ever, the prompt is optional, just a few ideas to jump start your pen.

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

SNS | 7-26-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic readings

Featuring: C. Prudence Arceneaux + Michelle Patton

Theme: Stars
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, July 26, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 839 5740 4701

Passcode: 665391

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Author Bios

C. Prudence Arceneaux, a native Texan, teaches English and Creative Writing, and is the Department Chair of Creative Writing, at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks —Dirt (2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and Liberty — and newly released collection Proprioception.
Get the book: https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781680034028/proprioception/

Michelle Patton received an MFA in Creative Writing from California State University, Fresno. She won the Ernesto Trejo Award for poetry in 2003 and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Rattle, The Atlanta Review, Southern Poetry Review, Calyx, Zyzzyva, Prairie Schooner, Cutbank, and others. She teaches English at Fresno City College.
Read some poems from her forthcoming first book, Horoscopes for Emergencies on the Poetry Super Highway: https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/poetry-from-michelle-patton-and-bob-mcafee/

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, July 19, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

July Writing Prompt: Stars

Whether we’re talking about the night sky, horoscopes, gold stars, or movie stars—this month’s theme invites mystery, metaphor, imagination, and wonder. Take some inspiration from the stars.

SOME IDEAS

• Write about literal stars—space, constellations, the sun, dead stars, black holes, the unknown, vastness and splendor.

• Take a night walk. Or get out a lawn chair and sit outside one night, look at the sky, name things, let your mind wander and follow your thoughts onto the page.

• Write about a camping or hiking trip where the dark sky lets you see way more stars than usual. Describe that sense of wonder.

• Write from the point of view of an astronaut in space, perhaps looking back at Earth, or beyond to new horizons.

• Draw metaphorical connections between distant stars and life on earth, how does the macro of space illuminate the micro of dailiness?

• Write about a celebrity—a movie star, musician, journalist, politician, famous writer, a popular historical character, a star teacher—this might be a fictional portrait, a true story, an epistolary poem (love/hate letter), satire, dream, fantasy, tabloid, passing allusion, etc.

• Write a poem or prose piece in the form of a horoscope

• Write about a time when you shone, or were the star of something, or received a gold star. What happened? Why was it complicated?

Or something else! As ever, the prompt is optional, just a few ideas to jump start your pen.

INSPIRATION

Dead Stars by Ada Limón

My God It’s Full of Stars by Tracy K. Smith

I Know a Silent Movie Star by Michael Palmer

Astronomers Locate a New Planet by Matthew Olzmann

2 Poems from Horoscopes for Emergencies by Michelle Patton

Ode to Patrick Swayze by Tishani Doshi

How to Measure Distance by Charlotte Pence

Starship Somatics: An Invitation by Petra Kuppers

Stars over the Dordogne by Sylvia Plath

Stargazer by Dara Wier

Star Dust by Kay Ryan

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

Saturday Literary Salon

The Saturday Literary Salon is an international online reading series produced by Eye Publish We in collaboration with Time to Arrive Open Mic, featuring writers from the US and the UK reading from their recent books, followed by an open mic.

Featuring:

Nazelah Jamison
Ian J McKenzie
Hollie Hardy

Hosted by: Dane Ince

Share / RSVP on Facebook

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Saturday, July 5, 2025
12pm Central Time

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Zoom

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Free

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Author Bios

Nazelah Jamison is a Bay Area-based poet, comedian, vocalist, and emcee known for her dynamic performances and fearless voice. Author of Evolutionary Heart (Nomadic Press), her work appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Town: An Anthology of Oakland Poets. She hosts Thee Virtual Open Mic and Berkeley Poetry Slam, and is active in curating inclusive, community-centered events. Also a horror screenwriter and performer, Nazelah brings heart, humor, and heat to every stage she touches—plus, she gives the best hugs in the Bay.

Ian J McKenzie is a poet from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, NW England. He has had his poetry published in several anthologies to date, including, ‘Dissent: an anthology to end war and capitalism’, edited by Mark Lipman for Vagabond Books and in ‘Ain’t No Dead Beats Around Here’, edited by Fin Hall, published by Like A Blot From The Blue. He has also recently been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for Poetry for his poem, ‘A Piet Mondrian View of Beach Life’, included in, ‘Ain’t No Dead Beats Around Here.’ His debut collection, ‘Going To Montana In My Mind – Poems From A Coffee Shop’, came out in June 2025; copies are available online at lulu.com

Hollie Hardy is the author of two books of poetry, Lions Like Us (Red Light Lit Press) and How to Take a Bullet: And Other Survival Poems (Punk Hostage Press), winner of the Annual Poetry Center Book Award at San Francisco State University. She holds an MFA in Poetry from SFSU and teaches private writing workshops online. She is the founder of Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets, and host of the long-running reading series Saturday Night Special: A Virtual Open Mic. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in numerous anthologies and literary journals such as Alchemy, Colossus, The Common, Eleven Eleven, Fourteen Hills, Mixed Bag of Tricks, Passionfruit Review, sPARKLE & bLINK, Synkroniciti, Transfer, and elsewhere. She lives in Austin, TX. Follow her on IG @hollie.hardy Learn more at: holliehardy.com

SNS | 6-28-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading

Featuring: Nala Washington + Christopher Michael

Theme: Danger
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, June 28, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 834 6576 3880

Passcode: 961075

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Author Bios

Nala Washington (she/her) is an MFA Poetry Student at Texas State University. You can find her words currently/forthcoming in Midnight & Indigo Lit, The Santa Clara Review, Livina Press, Essay Magazine, Sanctuary Magazine, and more. As a Spoken Word Artist, Nala has competed in the Brave New Voices competition for the D.C. team in 2020, was a featured performer at the Kennedy Center in 2020 for the Arts Across America Series, was the 2023 BIPOC Scholarship winner for the Fine Arts Work Center, was on the Poetry Longlist for the 2025 DISQUIET Literary Prize, and has opened for established poets such as Ebony Stewart and Christopher Michael. Currently, she is a participant of Austin Poetry Slam. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook at @that.poetgirl to keep up with her publications and performances.

Christopher Michael is a writer, educator, publisher, MC, and nationally recognized slam poet, who’s been rocking Texas mics for over 30 years. He’s been a regular at the Austin Poetry Slam since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2005. Mr. Michael is the editor of Texas Slamthology: Vol. 1 and author of four books of poetry including Persona Non Grata, Nuclear Orange, DEMIgOD, and most recently Black Type Poems. His publishing company is 310 Brown Street.
Follow him at @mrmichael310
Learn more at mrmichael310.com
Buy books at 310-brown-street.myshopify.com

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, June 21, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

June Writing Prompt: Danger

Life is full of peril! Mass deportations, protests, fire and car crashes, mass shootings, flying out of Newark, racial profiling, muggings, leaving your drink unattended, answering your door, pulling over to help a stranger. There are risks we can’t control, and there are risks we choose. Rock climbing, motorcycling, jumping out of planes, traveling alone, riding the janky roller coaster at the carnival that just went up in the parking lot an hour ago, asking for help, giving your boss the finger, enlisting in the armed forces, falling in love, petting a wild animal, speaking truth to power.

This year has felt particularly dangerous. So, this month, I wanted to hold space for us to write about danger. If you’re feeling political, go for it. But there’s no pressure to take any particular stance. There are myriad ways to think about danger and risk—physical, emotional, political, financial, criminal, environmental, etc.

SOME IDEAS

• Write about a time when you felt vulnerable, endangered, imperiled.

• Write about a near death experience.

• Write about a time when you took a risk.

• Write about something you survived.

• Write about a time when you spoke up for something you believed in.

• Write about something crazy, stupid, or brave that you did.

• Write about a fork in the road or warning sign.

• Write about something dangerous.

• Write about a time you were the danger.

Or something else!

INSPIRATION

Que Sera Sera by A. Van Jordan

Home by Warsan Shire

Fire-Taking by Desirée Alvarez

In Colorado My Father Scoured and Stacked Dishes by Eduardo C. Corral

Infinity Ghazal Beginning with Lice and Never Ending with Lies by Tarfia Faizullah

Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz by Matthew Olzmann

Dangerous Life by Lucia Perillo

Danger of Falling by Patricia Goedicke

Dangers by Rodney Jones

More Dangerous Air by Margarita Engle

Poem About Police Violence by June Jordan

Jumping Jack: The M16 Mines by Teresa Mei Chuc

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

Half Empty Half Full Literary Comedy Show

Half Empty Half Full is a literary comedy game show with a twist! Optimism versus pessimism—Austin's sharpest and wittiest stand-up comics and writers share their talents and compete to determine if the glass is half empty or half full. The show's host, comedian and poet Valerie Nies (McSweeney's, Rattle, and the comedy show Smile More), is joined by a panel of clever judges to choose who wins: the comedians and writers who see life half full or half empty!

Featuring:
Bree Bailey
Jessia Hincapié
Stephanie Chiarello
Bryn Wright

Judges:
Hollie Hardy
Grace Pinegar
Tyler Randle

Hosted by:
Valerie Nies

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Saturday, June 7, 2025
8:30pm

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Coldtowne Theater
1700 East 2nd St.
Austin, TX

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$15

Ina Coolbrith Circle 98th Annual Poetry Awards Reading

I have the honor of speaking at this year’s Ina Coolbrith Circle 98th Annual Spring Poetry Contest Awards (formerly Poets' Dinner Awards)

Join us online for Lions Like Us: Poems of Love & Longing, a literary celebration, including the announcement of this year's spring poetry contest winners, who will read their winning poems. Guest speaker Hollie Hardy (that’s me!) will give a talk about modern love poems and read from her latest poetry collection, Lions Like Us (Red Light Lit Press 2024). All are welcome.

Featuring:

Hollie Hardy
Robert McNally
Louise Moises
John Rowe
Deborah Bachels Schmidt
Aline Soules

Share / RSVP on Facebook

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Saturday, June 7, 2025
1pm – 4pm Pacific Time

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Zoom
Meeting ID: 822 6429 3819

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Free

SNS | 5-31-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading

Featuring: Karen Marker + Bree Bailey

Theme: I Said What I Said
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, May 31, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 821 3936 2412

Passcode: 753660

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Author Bios

Bree Bailey (she/her) is a queer Latina poet, a mistress of the music of inflections, pulses, and ironic chuckles. A Jersey native now in Austin, TX, she writes with heart and humor about mental health, love, and resilience. A former educator and 2023 Write Bloody Jack McCarthy Prize winner, her debut collection, Wailing on Whisper Street, is out now and everywhere you buy books. Find her in Olney Magazine, Exposition Review, Remington Review, West Trade Review, and more.
Follow @breebaileypoetry or visit breebaileypoetry.com.
Buy the book: https://writebloody.com/products/wailing-on-whisper-street-by-bree-bailey

Karen Marker studied Greek classics and drama, ran a children’s theater, and wrote plays before training and working for thirty years as a school psychologist in Oakland, CA. After retiring four years ago she returned full time to her first love, writing poetry, mostly inspired by her family roots and branches. Her first book of flash memoir/ poetry, Beneath the Blue Umbrella, was recently published by Finishing Line Press. It explores issues of mental illness, stigma and misdiagnosis. She has also recently begun a project of writing a poem a day of protest and hope in response to current political events.
Learn more: https://www.karenmarker.com/
Buy the book: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/beneath-the-blue-umbrella-by-karen-marker/

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, May 24, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

May Writing Prompt: I Said What I Said

The phrase "I said what I said" means to stand firmly behind what one has already stated, even if it's controversial or unpopular. It's a way of emphasizing confidence and unwillingness to retract or apologize for a statement. It's a refusal to back down from an opinion or assertion, even if it might be met with disagreement or criticism. If can also be used ironically, if one is standing for something trivial. For our purposes, we’ll include the serious and unserious definitions, and expand outward to include various kinds of dialogue. Things said and unsaid, he said she said they said we said, even last words. As ever, please feel free to interpret loosely.

SOME IDEAS

• Write about something you stand for, or a time you stood up for someone or something controversial, something you believe strongly in.

• Write about some kind of protest (that you participated in, or witnessed, or read about or had an opinion on)

• Write a monologue in which you assert a deeply held belief

• Write a dialogue in which 2 people disagree

• Write about something left unsaid

• Write something funny, sassy, defiant, subversive

• Write something where you assert something but then reverse course in the poem or change your mind. Think: volta; think: swerve.

Or something else! We’re writers. Everything we write is something we said.

INSPIRATION

I Forget Who I Said It To, But I Remember How, Afterwards, They Looked at Me As Though I Had Driven A Steak Knife Through Their Mother’s Hand by Rachel McKibbens

What It Looks Like To us and the Words We Use by Ada Limón

Tonight, in Oakland by Danez Smith

What I Never Told You About the Marriage by Esperanza Hope Snyder

Ars Poetica #1,002: Rally by Elizabeth Alexander

Unlawful Assembly by Kimberly Blaeser

What I Said by Hilda Conkling

Said by David Rivard

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

SNS | 4-26-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading

Featuring: Marya Hornbacher + Mike Urquidez

Theme: Time Travel
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, April 26, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 837 7186 3685

Passcode: 946213

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Author Bios

Marya Hornbacher is an award-winning journalist, essayist, novelist, and poet, and the New York Times bestselling author of five books. She has received the Annie Dillard Award for Nonfiction, the Logan Fellowship for Social Justice Journalism, the White Award for Magazine Journalism, the ASCAP Award for Music Journalism, the Fountain House Humanitarian Award, and other distinctions. Her work appears in publications including New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Minneapolis StarTribune, Chicago Reader, Smithsonian Magazine, Vogue, Glamour, Crazyhorse, Guernica, Longreads, AGNI, Arts & Letters, Gulf Coast, DIAGRAM, and many more. She is the creator of the the bestselling Substack "Going Solo at the End of the World," a multi-media report from the American road. Her sixth book, Solo, is forthcoming from Hachette/Cardinal Books in early 2027.

Mike Urquidez is a poet, writer, and educator living in northeast Los Angeles, where he teaches English at Los Angeles Pierce College. He is a graduate of the creative writing program at San Francisco State University and former fiction editor of Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review. Recent work has appeared in Stick Figure Poetry, Moria, and elsewhere. He is currently at work on a full-length collection of poetry, as well as a mystery novel set in the San Fernando Valley.

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, February 15, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

April Writing Prompt: Time Travel

Write a poem, short prose, or speculative fiction piece inspired by time travel. 🚀❤️⏰

SOME IDEAS

• Do you believe in the possibility of time travel? 

• What would you want to do if you could time travel? Would you go back in time to see specific things, change things, redo mistakes, prevent genocide, see dinosaurs? Or would you roll forward to see if we save or destroy the planet? 

• What would your time machine look like?

• What would you learn or reveal about humanity or yourself?

• Your poem can be from any point of view. From your own or a character's. So you might imagine yourself in a different time or a someone from the past for example, traveling forward to our time. 

• Time travel as memory or imagined future. 

• Time travel as the literalized surreal.

• Time travel as a way to revisit or reclaim, to save or to salvage.

Or something else! Think big! Be expansive.

INSPIRATION

Time Travel for Beginners by Ardon Shorr

Time Travel by Mihee Kim

Being in This World Makes Me Feel Like a Time Traveler by Kaveh Akbar

I Have a Time Machine by Brenda Shaughnessy

The Time Traveler Finally Falls in Love by T.S. Leonard

LeaveTaking by Rita Dove

Time Traveler by Patrick Cotter

I Have a Time Machine by Brenda Shaughnessy

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

GAB Fest

I’m thrilled to be included in this year’s Greater Austin Book Festival! Come schmooze with local authors, buy signed books, bask in gorgeous city views from the library, and enjoy a full day of panels, workshops, and programs.

I’ll be moderating a Poetry Panel featuring Usha Akella, C. Prudence Arceneaux, Bree Bailey, KB Brookins and me from 12pm –1pm in the second floor art gallery. Scroll down for author bios!

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Saturday, April 26, 2025

Book Fest
10am – 5pm

Poetry Panel
12pm – 1pm

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Austin Public Library (Central)
710 W. César Chávez St.
Special Event Center (1st floor)
Art Gallery (2nd floor)
Austin, TX

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Free

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Author Bios

Usha Akella has authored ten books that include poetry, and two musical dramas with publishers such as Spinifex Press, Australia, Sahitya Akademi (India’s Academy of Letters), and Mantis Editores, Mexico. She earned an MSt. in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, UK. She is the founder of Matwaala, launched to increase the visibility of South Asian poets, and www.the-pov.com, a website of curated interviews. She was selected as one of the Creative Ambassadors for the city of Austin in 2019 & 2015. She has been hosted by numerous international poetry festivals, and laudable venues such as the Ministry of Arts and Letters, Mexico, Sahitya Akademi, JLF Houston etc., She edited and conceived Hum Aiseich Bolte! This is just how we speak, a poetry anthology on the city of Hyderabad, and a festschrift, A house of words, in honor of Keki Daruwalla.

C. Prudence Arceneaux, a native Texan, teaches English and Creative Writing, and is the Department Chair of Creative Writing, at Austin Community College, in Austin, TX. Her work has appeared in various journals, including The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Limestone, New Texas, Hazmat Review, Texas Observer, Whiskey Island Magazine, African Voices and Inkwell. She is the author of two chapbooks of poetry-- DIRT (2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY-- and newly released collection PROPRIOCEPTION.

Bree Bailey (she/her) is a queer Latina poet, a mistress of the music of inflections, pulses, and ironic chuckles. A Jersey native now in Austin, TX, she writes with heart and humor about mental health, love, and resilience. A former educator and 2023 Write Bloody Jack McCarthy Prize winner, her debut collection, Wailing on Whisper Street, is out now and everywhere you buy books. Find her in Olney Magazine, Exposition Review, Remington Review, West Trade Review, and more. Follow @breebaileypoetry or visit breebaileypoetry.com.

KB Brookins is a Black queer and trans writer, educator, and cultural worker from Texas. KB’s chapbook How To Identify Yourself with a Wound won the Saguaro Poetry Prize, a Writer’s League of Texas Discovery Prize, and a Stonewall Honor Book Award. Their debut collection Freedom House won the American Library Association Barbara Gittings Literature Award and the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best First Book of Poetry. KB’s memoir Pretty (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024) won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award and the Dorothy Allison/Felice Picano Emerging Writer Award. Follow them online at @earthtokb. 

Hollie Hardy is a writer, educator, and author of two books of poetry, Lions Like Us (Red Light Lit Press, 2024) and How to Take a Bullet: And Other Survival Poems (Punk Hostage Press, 2014) winner of the Annual Poetry Center Book Award at San Francisco State University. She holds an MFA in Poetry from SFSU and teaches private writing workshops online. She is the founder of Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets, and host of the long-running monthly reading series Saturday Night Special: A Virtual Open Mic. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in numerous anthologies and literary journals including Colossus, The Common, Fourteen Hills, Mixed Bag of Tricks, Passionfruit Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Austin, TX. Learn more at: holliehardy.com.

Austin Indie Book Fair

Join us on Saturday, April 5 from noon to 4pm for The Austin Independent Book Fair, a free, all-ages event celebrating books and literacy, featuring local authors, literary programs, story time performances.

Programing:

12:30pm
Drag Story Hour with Brigitte Bandit

2pm
Prose readings hosted by Richard Santos
featuring:
Ryan Bradley
Emily May
Diamond Braxton
Jose Rodriguez
Steph Grossman
Lilas Taha
Jeanette Horn
Leticia Urieta

3pm
Poetry Corner with Taylor Fox
featuring:
Nala Washington
Abel Koury
Nori Rose Hubert
Hollie Hardy
Osmani Alcaraz-Ochoa
Raven Vervain
724 Press Collective*
(*A. A. Britto & L. M. Gomez)

Vendors:

Adobe Press
Alienated Magesty Books
Birdhouse Books & Gifts
The Bohemian Bookshop
Finess Fiction
Lioness Books
Red Salmon Arts
Reverie Books
The Sunday Post
Vignette Books
The Writers’ League

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Saturday, April 5, 2025
12pm – 4pm

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Radio East
3504 Montopolis Dr.
Austin, TX

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Free

Author Signing at AWP Conference & Bookfair

I’m headed to LA on March 26-29 for the 2025 Annual Associated Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference.

Hit me up if you’re going and want to connect!

Buy books at the Parley Lit table at the bookfair (T1111) and come see me for a signing on Saturday at 12:30pm.

Parley Lit is an interactive, performance-based storytelling platform, and the home of Totally Biased Reviews, a podcast series featuring interviews with writers.

You can listen to my conversation with Parley Lit Editor-In-Chief Asha Dore here

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AWP Bookfair
Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 S Figueroa St,
Los Angeles, CA

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Author Signing
Saturday, March 29, 2025
12:30pm – 1:30pm

Parley Lit Table
T-1111

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Free

Write from the Gut! AWP Offsite Reading

Join us for bar eats, good writing, and great company in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Write from the Gut! literary reading series, featuring the best and brightest of San Francisco Creative Writing Institute, including current and former students, faculty, and poet laureates, followed by open mic (time allowing), in a bar that looks like Bukowski himself would approve. FREE! All are welcome! Join us!

Featuring:

Tongo Eisen-Martin
Alexandra Kostoulas
Paul Corman-Roberts
Hollie Hardy
Nick Mamatas
Marya Hornbacher
Oliver Sedano-Jones
Kelliane Parker
Vallie Lynn Watson
Nichole Henares
Aimee DeLong
Gaia Thomas
Aideed Medina
Pretty Stefina
Keith Gaboury
K.R. Morrison
Mimi Gonzalez

Hosted by:
SF Creative Writing Institute

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Friday, March 28, 2025
5:30m – 7:30pm
(doors at 5pm)

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The Escondite (aka The Hideout)
410 Boyd St.
Los Angeles, CA

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Free

Half Empty Half Full Literary Comedy Show

Half Empty Half Full is a literary comedy game show with a twist! Optimism versus pessimism—Austin's sharpest and wittiest stand-up comics and writers share their talents and compete to determine if the glass is half empty or half full. The show's host, comedian and poet Valerie Nies (McSweeney's, Rattle, and the comedy show Smile More), is joined by a panel of clever judges to choose who wins: the comedians and writers who see life half full or half empty!

The lineup for March includes stand-up comedians Josh Castro and Patrick Gallagher along with poets Hollie Hardy (Lions Like Us from Red Light Lit Press; How to take a Bullet: And Other Survival Poems from Punk Hostage Press) and Angelina Martin (Buzzkill at the Buzz Mill; Slide in the DMs; Bodega Magazine, Sandy River Review). 

Featuring:
Josh Castro
Patrick Gallagher
Hollie Hardy
Angelina Martin

Judges:
Dena Afrasiabi
Molly Mangel
Tyler Randle

Hosted by:
Valerie Nies

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Saturday, March 1, 2025
8pm

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Coldtowne Theater
1700 East 2nd St.
Austin, TX

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$15

SNS | 2-22-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading

Featuring: Cindy Huyser + Irvin Weathersby Jr.

Theme: Mad Love
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, February 22, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 813 7985 9004

Passcode: 185550

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Author Bios

Cindy Huyser is the author of the chapbook Burning Number Five: Power Plant Poems (Blue Horse Press, 2014) and the full-length collection Cartography (3: A Taos Press, 2025). She is the long-time host of Austin’s BookWoman 2ndThursday Poetry Series and holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University.  Learn more on her website: cindyhuyser.wordpress.com

Irvin Weathersby Jr. is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans, and author of In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space released in January from Penguin Random House. His writing has been featured in LitHub, Guernica, Esquire, The Atlantic, EBONY, and elsewhere. He has earned an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, and a BA from Morehouse College. He has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation. irvinweathersby.com

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, February 15, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

February Writing Prompt: Mad Love

In grad school, Jacob Evans, fellow a poet, once said, “There ain’t no poetry like the poetry of longing,” and it was one of those phrases that hummed with lasting truth, like the deep resonance of a Japanese Bonshō bell.

Even after writing Lions Like Us, a whole book of love poems, it’s still my favorite subject for poetry. And so, with Valentine’s Day as our annual excuse, we turn once again to a familiar theme.

Your challenge this month is to write a poem, or short prose piece (3 minutes or less) inspired by Mad Love.

SOME IDEAS

You could write a classic poem or story of love or desire, romantic love, longing, wild and crazy love, new love, lost love, anoymous love, forbidden love, anti-love, angry love, love/hate, etc, or you could write about loving everyday objects, shoes, pets, your body, your favorite movie, your favorite child. You could write about the risks or grand gestures you’ve performed for love. Maybe “mad” means deep or insane, but maybe it means angry. What about loving your country and being mad at the same time? Feel free to interpret loosely. ❤️💔❤️‍🩹💙💛💝

INSPIRATION

Ditty by Kevin Young

Dirty Valentine by Richard Siken

I Love you to the Moon & by Chen Chen

Husky Boys' Dickies by Jill McDonough

Aimless Love by Billy Collins

Flirtation by Rita Dove

Movement Song by Audre Lorde

Pupil by D.A. Powell

Love Like Salt by Lisel Mueller

The Hush of the Very Good by Todd Boss

Wild nights - Wild nights! (269) by Emily Dickinson

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Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!

SNS | 1-25-25

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading

Featuring: Rebecca Foust & Bianca Alyssa Pérez

Theme: Mirrors
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

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Saturday, January 25, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)

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Online Event
Free Admission

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Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List

The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Join Event on Zoom

Meeting ID: 819 4126 2676

Passcode: 005075

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Author Bios

Rebecca Foust’s most recent books are YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR (Backbone Press 2024) and ONLY (Four Way Books 2024, starred review in Publisher’s Weekly). Her poems won the James Dickey Prize, and the Fischer Cantor Prize in 2024, and the New Ohio Review Prize in 2023, as well as the Pablo Neruda, James Hearst, and Poetry International prizes in recent years. New poems are in recent issues of The Common, Iowa Review, POETRY, Ploughshares, and Southern Review. Other recognitions include fellowships from The Frost Place, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Sewanee, and a Marin County Poet Laureateship where Rebecca’s program, “Poetry as Sanctuary,” featured readings by local immigrant poets. Reach her at rebeccafoust.com

Bianca Alyssa Pérez (she/her) is a Latina poet, educator, and editor born and raised in Mission, Texas – a small southern town bordering Mexico. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Texas State University, where she also teaches and coordinates the MFA in Creative Writing program. She was the 2022-2023 Clark House Writer-In-Residence in Smithville, TX. Her chapbook, Gemini Gospel, is published with Host Publications. She serves on the Board of Writers' League of Texas and Abode Press. She is also the co-host of the horror podcast, Basement Girls, with writer, Steph Grossman. Find more chisme at her website: biancaalyssaperez.com

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Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, January 18, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

January Writing Prompt: Mirrors

As January offers its symbolic, annual fresh start, many of us take time to reflect on the previous year, set goals for the year ahead. Mirrors offer literal and metaphorical reflection of ourselves and the world around us—in nature, in our homes, bodies, hearts, actions, politics, and in the stories we tell ourselves.

Your challenge this month is to write a poem, story, or prose piece (3-minutes or less) inspired by mirrors and/or their reflections.

SOME IDEAS:

• Describe a visual reflection, what is seen in a mirror, what is reflected in a body of water, your face close up, mirrored sunglasses, the exterior of a skyscraper, a sunset on fire.

• A mirror or palindrome poem—forms that repeat in reverse midway through or repeat across two columns like a Rorschach (see Rita Dove and Natasha Trethewey poems below for examples of each)

• Self-reflection or self-portrait

• Reflections on a political landscape

• Dear Mirror, or Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, or a monologue from the mirror’s point of view

• The infinity effect of mirrors reflecting and reflecting forever (see “Resting Gently on Her Unibrow” below)

Or something else! As ever, the theme is optional—an invitation, not a requirement; feel free to interpret loosely or ignore. Below are some poems on our theme to inspire you.

FOR INSPIRATION

Night Mirror by Li-Young Lee
Mirror, Mirror by Tom Healy
Mirror at Shallot by Jameson Fitzpatrick
Mirror by Rita Dove
Moon Mirrored, Indivisible by Farid Matuk
Mirrors at 4 a.m. by Charles Simic
Mirror by Jack Stewart
Mirror by Max Garland
Myth by Natasha Trethewey
Sunset, Loon Lake by Rebecca Foust
Huge Mirrors by Matthew Sweeney

RESTING GENTLY ON HER UNIBROW
by Baruch Porras Hernandez

She had several self portraits in which she painted an object on her forehead.

If it was a small painting of her husband, it would be titled, Thinking of Diego.

If the object was a skull, it would be titled,

Thinking of death.

Oh Frida, if only I could be a small image on your forehead

resting gently on your unibrow, with a small painting on my forehead

of a doughnut.

It would be titled, Frida, Thinking of Baruch, Thinking of a Doughnut,

and at the top of the doughnut, where the doughnut’s forehead would be

between the sprinkles, a small painting of Frida Kahlo,

and on her forehead, a small painting of me, and on my forehead,

a small painting of a doughnut, and so on, and so on, forever, and forever,

and forever, and forever.

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