Birchbark Books Reading Series
The Birchbark Books Reading Series will present poets Bao Phi and Ed Bok Lee on Wednesday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. The reading will take place at the series’ temporary home at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located only a few blocks from Birchbark Books.
Bao Phi was nominated for a 2012 Minnesota Book Award for Sông I Sing (Coffee House Press) and Ed Bok Lee won the 2012 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry for Whorled (Coffee House Press). See bios below for more.
The reading takes place in the “lower level”
of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1917 Logan Avenue South (northeast
corner of Logan and West Franklin Avenues).
www.stpaulsmpls.org/aboutus/findus.html
Birchbark Books is still open for business.
Hosted by Michael Kiesow Moore, The Birchbark Books Reading Series features new, emerging, and established writers monthly. The series takes place the second Wednesday of the month, from September through May.
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A performance poet since 1991, Bao Phi has been a two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, and appeared on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. His work has been featured in the Best American Poetry, Screaming Monkeys, and Spoken Word Revolution Redux. He performs across the country, acts as an Asian American community organizer, and works at the Loft Literary Center, where he creates and operates programs for artists and audiences of color. His series, Equilibrium, recently won the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Anti-Racism Initiative Award. Phi lives in Minneapolis with his partner and daughter. Sông I Sing (Coffee House Press) is his first book. |
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Ed Bok Lee was raised in South Korea, North Dakota, and Minnesota. A former bartender, phys ed instructor, journalist, and translator, he studied in the U.S., South Korea, Kazakhstan, and Russia, earning an MFA from Brown University. Lee has shared his work in journals and anthologies, and on public radio and MTV, and teaches part time at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. Lee is the author of Real Karaoke People, which was the winner of an Asian American Literary Award (Members’ Choice) and the PEN Open Book Award, and most recently, Whorled (Coffee House Press). |
Birchbark Books is located at 2115 West 21st Street, Minneapolis, MN 55405. (612) 374-4023 Click here for a map to the store.
| Previous Presenters |
Annie Breitenbucher
Wendy Brown-Báez
Todd Boss
Lucille Broderson
Jay Thomas Badheart Bull
Sharon Chmielarz
James Cihlar
Mark Conway
Lyle Daggett
Lightsey Darst
Mary Moore Easter
Heid E. Erdrich
Larry Gavin
Pamela Gemin
Margaret Hasse
Carolyn Holbrook
Ann Iverson
Diane Jarvenpa
Andrea Jenkins
Emily Johnson
Prudence Johnson
Deborah Keenan
Athena Kildegaard
Scott King
Kathryn Kysar
James Lenfestey
Roseann Lloyd
Denise Low
Gayla Marty
Linda Back McKay
John Medeiros
Ardie Buckholtz Medina
Carter Meland
John Minceski
Jim Moore
Aundria Sheppard Morgan
Alison Morse
Ilze Klavina Mueller
Roslyn Nelson
Elizabeth Oness
Joe Paddock
Nancy Paddock
G.E. Patterson
Matt Rasmussen
William Reichard
Su Smallen
Thomas R. Smith
Christine Stark
Suzanne Swanson
Denise Sweet
Francine Marie Tolf
Nancy Walden
Bob Walser
Michael Walsh
Cary Waterman
Greg Watson
Tammy Darrah Wenberg
Gwen Westerman
Sherrie Fernandez-Williams
Morgan Grayce Willow
Elisabeth Workman
Bryan Thao Worra
Timothy Young
Nolan Zavoral