Events

Lisa Bickmore poetry reading in SLC – Mar. 6, 2018 @ 7:30pm

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Kimberly Johnson is curating a brief reading series for the Tanner Humanities Canter at the University of Utah. Please mark your calendars for the first event in the series:

Lisa Bickmore
March 6, 2018
7:30 pm
Jewel Box Conference Room

Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities BLDG
215 S Central Campus Dr., Rm 110
Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Please share! All are welcome!

Born in Dover, Delaware, Lisa Bickmore grew up living all over the United States and in Japan. She is the author of two books of poems: flicker, which won the 2014 Antivenom Prize from Elixir Press; and Haste (Signature Books, 1994). Her third book, Ephemerist, was published Red Mountain Press in June 2017.

Her poetry, scholarship, and video work have been published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry; Tar River Poetry; Sugar House Review; SouthWord; Caketrain; Hunger Mountain Review; Terrain.org; Bite Size Poems project (Utah Arts Council); Quarterly West; The Moth; MappingSLC.org; Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets; and elsewhere. In 2015, her poem ‘Eidolon’ was awarded the Ballymaloe International Poetry Award.

She earned a B.A. and an M.A. from Brigham Young University. Currently, she is a Professor of English at Salt Lake Community College, where she was the recipient of the SLCC Foundation Teaching Excellence Award in 2006. She teaches writing of all sorts, as well as publication studies, and is one of the founders of the SLCC Publication Center.

Poetry Open Mic + Book Launch Party, Tuesday, Feb. 13 @ 6:30 – Pioneer Book, Provo

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The Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book announce the launch party of Orogeny, the third collection of poems by local Utah County poets along with an open mic on Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 6:30 pm.

Orogeny is the third annual printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members. Each contributing poet receives a free copy and additional copies will be available to the public for $10 at the event. Poets will read their work from the anthology, after which, the open mic will begin and audience members are invited to read a poem they have written or a favorite by another poet. Light refreshments will be served.

 

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm

 

Rock Canyon Poets boasts diverse membership, ranging from 18 to 70 years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist.  Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in January, 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. Members meet twice a month at Pioneer Book in historic downtown Provo. The group sponsors poetry readings and an open mic on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Open Mic Poetry Reading – Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 at Pioneer Book

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RCP logo 1Join the Rock Canyon Poets for an evening of poetry. Not just any poetry—we want poetry that aches to be published, poetry that pushes the boundaries of the page, poetry that doesn’t need a performance, poetry that simply needs to be read. Bring your words in all of poetry’s traditional forms (from the sonnet to free verse) or just bring your ears for listening.

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: January 9, 2018

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Poetry Reading

Sign up in advance or just come and read!
These events are very casual and social. If you’d like to RSVP, add your name in a comment below, or email rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com. Each poet may read for up to 5 minutes. Maximum of 9 poets per reading. If there is time remaining, poets in the audience will have an opportunity to read.

Inspired reading for blog

Want to know more about Rock Canyon Poets? Follow our blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Open mic poetry readings happen the second Tuesday of every month at Pioneer Book in downtown Provo. Click here for more information on events.

Salt Lake Acting Company presents Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds – including book signing!

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Join us for this two week special engagement of STAG’S LEAP by Sharon Olds. Derived from Olds’ Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry by the same title, Salt Lake Acting Company’s staged version is conceived and directed by Nancy Borgenicht. STAG’S LEAP blends Olds’ gift for language with Borgenicht’s theatrical imagination to create an evening of poetry not just out loud, but lived in. This two-week engagement serves as the next step in this project’s continued development, with all proceeds going toward SLAC’s new play programs.

Sharon Olds will attend the opening weekend with a special book signing following the matinee performance on January 21 (approximately 2:30pm). Don’t miss this chance to meet well known and loved poet Sharon Olds!

PERFORMANCES:
January 18 – 28, 2018
Thursdays – Saturdays @ 7:30 p.m., Sundays @ 1:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.

TICKETS:
Single tickets range from $40 – $100 (all tickets are tax deductible and support SLAC’s new play programs)
Discounts are available for Students and people 30 years old & younger.
tickets.saltlakeactingcompany.org

For more information contact the box office at:
801-363-7522
info@saltlakeactingcompany.org

Sharon Olds was born in San Francisco and educated at Stanford University and Columbia University. Her first book, Satan Says (1980), received the inaugural San Francisco Poetry Center Award. Her second, The Dead and the Living, was both the Lamont Poetry Selection for 1983 and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Father was short-listed for the T. S. Eliot Prize in England, and The Unswept Room was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Olds teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University and helped to found the NYU workshop program for residents of Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island, and for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. She lives in New Hampshire and in New York City.

Want to know more about Rock Canyon Poets? Follow our website, Facebook, or Twitter. Open mic poetry readings happen the second Tuesday of every month at Pioneer Book. Click here for more information.

Open Mic Poetry Reading – Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017 at Pioneer Book

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RCP logo 1Join the Rock Canyon Poets for an evening of poetry. Not just any poetry—we want poetry that aches to be published, poetry that pushes the boundaries of the page, poetry that doesn’t need a performance, poetry that simply needs to be read. Bring your words in all of poetry’s traditional forms (from the sonnet to free verse) or just bring your ears for listening.

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: December 12, 2017

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Poetry Reading

Sign up in advance or just come and read!
These events are very casual and social. If you’d like to RSVP, add your name in a comment below, or email rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com. Each poet may read for up to 5 minutes. Maximum of 9 poets per reading. If there is time remaining, poets in the audience will have an opportunity to read.

Inspired reading for blog

Want to know more about Rock Canyon Poets? Follow our blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Open mic poetry readings happen the second Tuesday of every month at Pioneer Book in downtown Provo. Click here for more information on events.

Poetry double feature + open mic, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, at Pioneer Book

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Don’t miss two incredible Utah poets: Nancy Takacs and Jan Minich! Both former professors at Utah State University Eastern.

Nancy Takacs is the winner of the Juniper Prize for her book of poems The Worrier (U of Mass. Press, 2017). She was a 2016 runner-up for the Missouri Review Editor’s Prize. Previous poetry publications include two books including Blue Patina, winner of the 15 Bytes Book Award for Poetry and finalist for the Lascaux Poetry Award; and four chapbooks, the most recent Red Voice, Echo poems from Finishing Line Press.  Her work has appeared in New Poets of the American West, and in the Harvard Review, Kestrel, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Nimrod, and Weber. She lives with her husband Jan Minich in Wellington, Utah.

Sly and forthright, delightful and unsettled, her poems read like an explorer’s field notes, veering off in unexpected directions across what we thought was charted terrain. —James Haug, 2016 Juniper Prize for Poetry Judge

Jan Minich’s Wild Roses: Poems, was published by Mayapple Press in 2017, tracing the emotional lives of Utah outlaw women, and other female historical characters. He is the author of The Letters of Silver Dollar, and two chapbooks: History of a Drowning, and Wild Roses  His poems have appeared most recently in Verse Wisconsin, Sugarhouse Review, Kestrel, Clover, and Weber. He is a former wilderness studies and literature professor at the Utah State University Eastern. Although Utah is home for him, summers he cruises Lake Superior in a small boat.

These thrown voices trespass on our moment in ways that startle—in ways that are completely memorable. This is a quietly scary book, a great book. —Norman Dubie, 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize winner

Takacs and Minich visit Provo as guests of the Rock Canyon Poets. The reading is open to the general public. For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets,  rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

 

Click here to download a printable flyer.

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Inspired Book Launch Party & Open Mic Night, Tuesday, Nov. 7 @ 6pm

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The Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book, in participation with the Utah Humanities Book Festival, announces the release party of “Inspired,” a community poetry writing experience and open mic on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 6:00 pm.

“Inspired” is a printed anthology of local Utah poets who recently participated in a free community workshop. Each contributing poet receives a free copy and additional copies will be available to the public for $5 at the event. Poets will read their work from the anthology, after which, the open mic will begin and audience members are invited to read a poem they have written or a favorite by another poet. Light refreshments will be served.

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book host poetry open mics the second Tuesday of each month.

 

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Poetry reading + open mic featuring Laura Hamblin – Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 @ 6:30pm

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Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book are please to present local favorite & emeritus UVU professor Laura Hamblin!

Laura Hamblin is a professor emeritus from Utah Valley University. She received her PhD from the University of Denver, and has taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Jordan in Amman. She taught creative writing, composition, women’s literature, the history and theory of the genre of poetry, and seminars including topics on Martin Buber. William Blake, and women poets. Laura’s awards include The Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty Ethics Award, and the Service Learning Award. Her book, The Eyes of a Flounder, was published by Signature Press. In 2007-8 she lived in Amman where she gathered oral histories of Iraqi women refugees, see  http://www.iraqiwomenrefugees.com/. Laura is recognized in “Utah Women’s Walk” which highlights women who have made a significant contribution to the state of Utah. (The presentation opened September 2017 at Thanksgiving Point.) In addition to poetry, Laura’s interests include beekeeping, gardening, quilting (a number of her quilts have been shown in museums), and traveling.

Hamblin visits Pioneer Book as a guest of the Rock Canyon Poets. The reading and open mic are open to the general public.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Official event page: https://rockcanyonpoets.com/category/events/

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Inspired: A FREE Community Poetry Writing Workshop

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Imagery in poetry helps to provide meaning within the limitations of language. In this workshop, participants learn how to create poems using imagery and metaphor to express ideas in unique and universal ways. Offered annually in participation with the Utah Humanities Book Festival by Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book, this workshop will be presented in two sessions, followed by a reception and poetry reading. Participants will be encouraged to submit their poem to be included in a printed anthology and contributors will receive a free copy.

Where

Pioneer Book, 450 West Center Provo, Utah 84601

What to Bring

  • Pen and paper to write and/or an electronic device to write on (laptop, etc)
  • Drink/snack if you so desire

How to Sign-up

To sign-up, email your name and contact information to rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com. Seating is limited. Come ready to write!

Schedule

  • Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017 at 6pm – Workshop #1
    Imagery talk/discussion, writing exercises
  • Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 at 6pm – Workshop #2
    Share and workshop first draft of poems
  • Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 at midnight –Poetry submission
    Email up to three poems to rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com for publication in the anthology, preferably poems from the workshop
  • Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017 at 6pm – Anthology launch party
    Reception, contributors poetry reading, and open mic

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE FLYER

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE BOOK FEST CALENDAR

 

Open Mic Poetry Reading – Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 at Pioneer Book

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RCP logo 1Join the Rock Canyon Poets for an evening of poetry. Not just any poetry—we want poetry that aches to be published, poetry that pushes the boundaries of the page, poetry that doesn’t need a performance, poetry that simply needs to be read. Bring your words in all of poetry’s traditional forms (from the sonnet to free verse) or just bring your ears for listening.

Where: Pioneer Book – 450 West Center Street, Provo

When: September 12, 2017

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Poetry Reading

Sign up in advance or just come and read!
These events are very casual and social. If you’d like to RSVP, add your name in a comment below, or email rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com. Each poet may read for up to 5 minutes. Maximum of 9 poets per reading. If there is time remaining, poets in the audience will have an opportunity to read.

Inspired reading for blog

Want to know more about Rock Canyon Poets? Follow our blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Open mic poetry readings happen the second Tuesday of every month at Pioneer Book in downtown Provo. Click here for more information on events.