Date: Wednesday, November 8
Time 10:00 a.m. ET

Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: Free, donations welcome

About the event:
Dow Visiting Artist Mary McDonnell hosts a discussion along with Masumi Azu and Austin Brown of the Japanese Cultural Center as well as Samantha Engel and Haley Hill of the Dow Gardens. The discussion will focus on exploring the relationship, influences, and connections between creativity, gardening, and the natural world.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited so please RSVP.

About Mary McDonnell:
Mary McDonnell b. Saginaw, MI is a contemporary American artist best known for her process-driven paintings rooted in materiality and a direct physical engagement. She works collaboratively with composers, musicians, poets, dancers, and visual artists, to examine ideas of connection and deepening perceptions. She’s participated in artist residencies from Malta to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, and has received awards, including a Distinguished Alumni Award and a Joseph Robert Foundation Award. Her work is included in The Brooklyn Museum, The Krannert Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, and the Blanton Museum of Art, among other public and private collections. Exhibitions of her work have been presented nationally and internationally. She currently lives and works in the Catskill region of New York.

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Date: Thursday, November 2
Time 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: At the Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602) and online via Zoom.
Cost: Free, donations welcome

About the event:
George Orwell is often read as being disinterested in philosophy at best, hostile to it at worst. But Orwell was more than just interested in important philosophical concepts, including truth and justice. A study of materials in the George Orwell Archive at University College London reveals that Orwell was much more comfortable with philosophical arguments and methodology than some of his readers have appreciated. Orwell, who did not normally annotate his books, did annotate some popular works in philosophy, including Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy, suggesting a special interest that arguably informed some of his most important works. 

During this event, Peter Brian Barry will discuss this interest of Orwell’s along with findings from his most recent book, George Orwell: The Ethics of Equality. It can be ordered through Oxford University Press or Amazon.

About Peter Brian Barry:
Peter Brian Barry is Professor of Philosophy and the Finkbeiner Endowed Professor in Ethics at Saginaw Valley State University. He is the author of three books, including his most recent book George Orwell: The Ethics of Equality, published by Oxford University Press. as well as multiple papers in ethics, broadly conceived. He lives in Saginaw, MI with his wife, Felicia, and rather too many cats. 

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Date: Saturday, October 14
Time 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: At the Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602) and online via Zoom.
Cost: Free, donations welcome

About the event:
From environmental devastation to the economic wreckage of the 21^st Century, join us for the launch of RS Deeren's debut collection of linked stories, Enough to Lose. Deeren will read from the book and discuss how Michigan's rural working class inspired these stories. Deeren will also have books available for sale during the event. 

Praise for Enough to Lose:
"This book is the best thing I’ve read lately, with its dead-on depictions of rural life, both beautiful and heart-wrenching. Some of Deeren's characters live so close to the edge that the failure of a freezer might mean going hungry, while others move closer to the edge to feel alive or to grieve fully. Deeren’s strong, sure, authentic voice sings the songs of Michigan, and you should listen." 
– Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

"Enough to Lose is compulsively readable. Like Denis Johnson, Richard Russo, and Daniel Woodrell, Deeren’s stories reflect the often brutal reality of working-class, rural life, punctuated by moments of beauty and brilliance."
– Donald Quist, author of For Other Ghosts and To Those Bounded

About RS Deeren:
A native "Thumbody" from Caro, Michigan, RS Deeren is an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. His research interests include contemporary fiction, US working-class studies, and rural-urban dynamics. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in periodicals including The Great Lakes Review, Joyland, Midwestern Gothic, and more.  While a student at Saginaw Valley State University, he worked as a line cook, landscaper, lumberjack, and substitute teacher. He earned his MFA from Columbia College Chicago and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The last time he was in this house, he was a high school freshman in Mrs. Ransford's English class. 

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Date: Saturday, October 7
Time 7:00–8:00 p.m. EST

Location: At the Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602) and online via zoom.
Cost: Free, donations welcome

About the Event:
Join us for the launch of Jared Morningstar’s newest release, Lost in America. Morningstar will read from excerpts, share stories about the writing process, and take questions from the audience.

During the event, we’ll have a drawing for all registered attendees and one lucky winner will receive a free copy of the book!

Praise for Lost in America:
“Morningstar’s poems are a bombastic wake-up call for the Everyman satisfied with their routine grind and weekly McDonald’s treat. But don’t let that turn you off from these well-crafted poems, for each one is a spark ready to ignite change in any reader’s heart.”
– Josh Crummer, author of We are the Raiders

“There’s just something about Jared Morningstar’s poetry that is real, true, and, yes, American. His poems are elegant and powerful, tapping into our overall humanness.”
– LB Sedlacek, author of Swim

“The poems of Lost in America are both trapped and enchanted by the mirrors of middle-class and midwestern American existence. It is a tight, tenacious, and welcome set by a talented and open-hearted poet.”
– Andrew/Sunfrog, author of Broken Megaphones

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Date: Thursday, October 5
Time 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: At the Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602) and online via zoom.
Cost: Free, donations welcome

About the event:
This talk will explore the relationship between writing and the future of culture. It will discuss major authors of books on the future, like Alvin Toffler and Faith Popcorn, as well as examine how journalists shape cultural understandings about the future. The talk will also explore ways that every one of us can write our own futures.

About Devon Powers:
Devon Powers is Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan.  Her research explores historical and contemporary consumer culture and the dynamics of cultural intermediation, circulation, and promotion. She is the author of On Trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future (University of Illinois Press, 2019), Writing the Record: The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism (University of Massachusetts Press, 2013), and co-editor of Blowing Up the Brand: Critical Perspectives on Promotional Culture (Peter Lang, 2010). Her academic work has appeared in Communication Theory, New Media & Society, Journal of Consumer Culture, and Creative Industries Journal, among others; she has also written for Wired, Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and other popular venues.

Thank you to the SVSU Visiting Dow Scholars and Artists program for funding this public talk.

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Date: Saturday, September 23, 2023
Time: 6:00–7:00 p.m. EST
Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: This event is free and open to the public—donations are always welcomed.

About the Open House:
Stop by our two-day Open House event! Get a tour of the Roethke house, browse our gift shop, attend our family oriented poetry workshop, and listen to a poetry reading. See the full Open House agenda »

About the Poetry Reading:
Charles “Floet” Townsel—better known as FLOET—has been writing and performing spoken word poetry since 2007 as a member of a poetry group known as the YEP Organization, which first thrust him into the public eye. As a child, he wanted to be a “rapper” but chose the path of poet or spoken word artist because of his love of words, the effect they have, and their meanings. Floet has also appeared in many poetry slams around the country, such as Rustbelt Regional Poetry in Columbus Ohio and in Madison Wisconsin;  The Apache Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia, and many others. He aspires to finish his publishing work as well as musical spoken word as well in the near future, so be on the lookout! 

If you’d like to attend the reading, please follow the registration instructions below.

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Date: Saturday, September 23, 2023
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m. EST
Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: This event is free and open to the public—donations are always welcomed.

About the Open House:
Stop by our two-day Open House event! Get a tour of the Roethke house, browse our gift shop, attend our family oriented poetry workshop, and listen to a poetry reading. See the full Open House agenda »

About the Poetry Panel:
Local experts will discuss their experiences in publishing and answer questions posed from the audience. If you’d like to attend virtually, please follow the registration instructions below.

Registration for this event is not required, but if you would like to register in advance or register with a donation, please follow the instructions below.

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Date: Friday, September 22, 2023
Time: 7:00–8:00 p.m. EST
Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: This event is free and open to the public—donations are always welcomed.

About the Open House:
Stop by our two-day Open House event! Get a tour of the Roethke house, browse our gift shop, attend workshops, listen to poetry readings, and participate in a poetry slam. See the full Open House agenda »

About the Poetry Open Mic:
Grab a chair and get those fingers ready to snap! Our Open House Poetry Open Mic has cultivated a supportive, creative community since its start, and we will continue that tradition in 2023. Join local poet Jared Morningstar on stage to share your favorite poem, or one you’ve written yourself. This event is open to all experience levels.

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. Please sign up in person when you arrive! We look forward to seeing you.

Date: Monday, August 7, 2023
Time: 6:00-7:30 p.m. EST
Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: A $10 donation is required for adults to attend this event. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

About the event:
In this workshop, poet and educator Donny Winter encourages writers to explore the landscape around the Roethke Museum and in their memories to unearth what makes nature imagery central to Theodore Roethke’s work. This workshop will explore the metaphorical intersections between self-sovereignty and nature conservation, emphasizing ways poetry can help promote eco-awareness. Through short form styles like haiku and tanka, writers can enjoy tapping into their inner selves to plant poetic seeds of their own for the benefit of our planet’s well-being.

A LIGHT DINNER IS INCLUDED. Sandwiches, chips, and cookies will be provided. Please email sherrin@friendsofroethke.org if you have any dietary restrictions.

About the facilitator:
Donny Winter, M.A., is a local LGBTQ+ author and educator residing in Midland, MI. He is the author of three collections of poems, Carbon Footprint (2020), Feats of Alchemy (2021), and Casting Seeds (2022), published by Alien Buddha Press. All of his collections have debuted at the top of Amazon’s LGBTQ+ and Nature poetry lists, garnering him three Pushcart Prize nominations and one Best of the Net nomination. His poems have been published in numerous journals and magazines, including: Awakened Voices Magazine, CultureCult Magazine, and Flypaper Lit. For more information, visit: donnywinter.com.

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Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m. EST
Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: A $10 donation is required for adults to attend this event. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

About the event:
In this workshop, published poet and former Michigan Creative Writing Teacher of the Year Jared Morningstar will lead participants through an exploration of spoken word poetry in an attempt to discover what makes the art form so powerful. Stylistic choices will be discussed, as will content that often creates memorable spoken word poems. Sometimes, it’s the political, and sometimes, it’s the personal, but it’s always passionate. Participants will engage in a discussion of spoken word poems, generate their own works, and, finally, be given an opportunity to share and give feedback to others.

A LIGHT DINNER IS INCLUDED. Sandwiches, chips, and cookies will be provided. Please email sherrin@friendsofroethke.org if you have any dietary restrictions.

About the facilitator:
Jared Morningstar is a high school English teacher, an adjunct English professor, and a commissioned Kentucky Colonel. He writes about his interests and observations of the world around him. Morningstar’s latest collection of poetry, Lost in America, will be released on August 7th via Alien Buddha Press, as have his three previous collections of poetry and prose (American Fries, American Reality, and A Slice of American Pie). Morningstar was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2020. He lives in Mount Pleasant with his wife and children.

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Date: Friday, July 14, 2023

Time: 10:00 a.m. EST

Location: The Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602)
Cost: A $10 donation is required for adults to attend this event. Children attend free. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

About the event:
Join us to read, write, and share poems inspired by the work of poets Theodore Roethke and Lorine Niedecker. We'll focus on how jokes, games, nonsense, and other forms of play can lead to unique insights about places that matter. This generative workshop warmly welcomes participants of all ages and backgrounds. It will be led by visiting poets Caryl Pagel and Zach Savich.

About the speakers:
Caryl Pagel is the author of three books of poetry—Free Clean Fill Dirt (University of Akron Press, 2022), Twice Told, and Experiments I Should Like Tried at My Own Death—as well as a collection of essays, Out of Nowhere Into Nothing (FC2, 2020). She’s currently writing about Lorine Niedecker and the Great Lakes.  

Zach Savich is the author of ten books, including the poetry collection Daybed and the memoir Diving Makes the Water Deep. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere, including pieces on Theodore Roethke for Georgia Review and Poetry Northwest. He teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His latest collection is the chapbook The Motherwell Sonnets (The Economy Press, 2023).

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Date: Thursday, July 13, 2023

Time 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: At the Roethke House (1805 Gratiot Avenue, Saginaw, Michigan 48602) and online via zoom.
Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $10, $5, or $1 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

About the event:
Visiting poets Caryl Pagel, Hilary Plum, and Zach Savich will read from their newest collections. The reading will be followed by a discussion of publishing across genres and of their work as editors with the Cleveland State University Poetry Center and the independent publisher Rescue Press.

About the speakers:
Caryl Pagel is the author of three books of poetry—Free Clean Fill Dirt (University of Akron Press, 2022), Twice Told, and Experiments I Should Like Tried at My Own Death—as well as a collection of essays, Out of Nowhere Into Nothing (FC2, 2020). She’s currently writing about Lorine Niedecker and the Great Lakes.  

Hilary Plum is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her recent work includes Excisions, a volume of poetry; Hole Studies, an essay collection; and the novel Strawberry Fields, which won the Fence Modern Prize in Prose. With Zach Savich she edits the Open Prose Series at Rescue Press. She teaches at Cleveland State University, and she serves as associate director of the CSU Poetry Center.

Zach Savich is the author of ten books, including the poetry collection Daybed and the memoir Diving Makes the Water Deep. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere, including pieces on Theodore Roethke for Georgia Review and Poetry Northwest. He teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His latest collection is the chapbook The Motherwell Sonnets (The Economy Press, 2023).

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Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Time: 7:00 p.m. EST

Location: Virtual (Zoom)

Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $10, $5, or $1 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

About the event:
Alice Derry will present from her new book of poems, Asking (Moonpath Press 2022) and her essay “The Most Precious Fit”— A Dialogue with C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed, ” which appeared in Widow’s Words: Women Write on the Experience of Grief, The First Year, the Long Haul, and Everything in Between, edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin and published in 2019 by Rutgers University Press. Derry’s poems, written over several years after her husband died, ask the many questions of being, as she navigates acute grief and the life forward. As sources for her essay, Derry drew on the journal she kept at the time of her husband’s death and on C.S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. This slim volume gave her unexpected comfort during the first years of her grief as she found that Lewis’ path matched her own.

In these years of national grief, as COVID-19 has stolen so many from us, Derry’s particular experience may provide comfort and healing to many.

Tess Gallagher, Roethke student and scholar, has written of the poems:

“Asking is what our entire country is doing—asking how to bear up under the loss of so many, these absences of our dearly beloveds. These poems answer by more than memory—by joining the beloved to the present in a way that makes asking itself an answer. An exceptional mind is at work here, lyrically, and with suppositional insistence, making a framework in poetry to approach and re-approach the death and the love—its successes and daily quandaries, its deep companioning—this is what really makes this book sing.”

– Tess Gallagher, author of Is, Is Not

About Alice Derry:


Derry is the author of six volumes of poetry, most recently Asking (Moonpath 2022), along with three chapbooks, including translations of poems by Rainer Rilke. She taught for 30 years at Peninsula College where she curated the Foothills Poetry Series, holding some 12-15 readings per year. Since retirement, she has been active in helping local tribal members access poetry and has taught community workshops in poetry. She has printed the first in a series of essays on native plants, Around the Salish Sea, collaborating with artist Fred Sharpe. Raymond Carver chose her first poetry manuscript, Stages of Twilight, for the King County Arts Prize in Seattle. Strangers to their Courage was a finalist for the Washington Book Award. In July 2022 she was faculty at the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. She lives and works on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Her website is www.alicederry.com.

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Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $1, $5, or $10 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

Description:
Artist Laura DeLind and poet Anita Skeen will read and show images from their latest collaborative book, Even the Least of These, and explain how the physical and emotional isolation of the COVID period resulted in their individual artistic “sighs.”   Those sighs lengthened into the song that ultimately became their book, full of linocuts and lines which “romp and sing/within the reach of my imagining” as Theodore Roethke writes in his poem, “Renewal.”

About Anita Skeen:

Anita Skeen is currently Professor Emerita in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University where she is the Founding Director of The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU and the Series Editor for Wheelbarrow Books. She taught students in kindergarten through high school while working with the Kansas Arts Commission’s Artist in the Schools Program; in traditional venues such as college classrooms as a Visiting Writer and Writer in Residence; and in senior citizens’ centers, libraries, and at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico for over 40 years.

She is the author of six volumes of poetry: Each Hand A Map (1986); Portraits (1990); Outside the Fold, Outside the Frame (1999); The Resurrection of the Animals (2002); Never the Whole Story (2011); When We Say Shelter (2007), with Oklahoma poet Jane Taylor; and The Unauthorized Audubon (2014), a collection of poems about imaginary birds accompanied by the linocuts of anthropologist/visual artist Laura B. DeLind. With Taylor, she co-edited the literary anthology Once Upon A Place: Writings from Ghost Ranch (2008). Her poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Collaboration is an important aspect of her work and she is currently involved in writing projects with poets Jane Taylor and Cindy Hunter Morgan. With linocut artist Laura DeLind, she has recently completed a poetry manuscript, Even the Least of These: The 10-line Poem in the Time of Crisis.

About Laura Delind:
Artist Laura B. DeLind has been cutting and hand-printing linocuts for over 40 years. She loves linoleum as a carving medium because it is unpretentious, has no pre-existing texture, and lends itself to spontaneous, bold images.  

“I am drawn to the linocut because of its challenges and contradictions. It is an accessible medium and, thus, quite democratic in nature.  At the same time, it is an elegant art form, one that requires a strong sense of composition and design as well as a keen understanding of positive and negative space. I am fascinated by black and white design and by organic shapes. Birds frequently find themselves the subject of my prints as they provide me with a ready-made ‘excuse’ to play with shape and pattern and to see the world in simple, sensitive, and often whimsical ways.” 

Laura lives and works in Mason, Michigan. All her editions are numbered and hand printed on ph neutral papers. She offers printmaking workshops in the Lansing area year round and has taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp as well as at Ghost Ranch (Abiquiu, NM) for many years.  She exhibits her work nationally and her prints appear in public and private collections across the country. The Unauthorized Audubon (MSU Press: 2014) pairs her linocuts with the poetry of Anita Skeen. Her linocuts also appear in Lavender Hill Farm by Jennifer P. Otto (Mead Hill Press: 2015) and on the cover of The Organic Movement in Michigan (MOFFA: 2016). Some recent work can be seen here on her website.

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Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $1, $5, or $10 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

Description:
In France, 1981, Jeanine studied at the Centre Jeanne d’Arc with a goal of writing a series of poems about Joan. But after 40 years, she wonders how often she can change her tune and tempo: “Elegies and odes slip into cliches. Free verse lapses into prose. Sonnets? Joan of Arc, a monarchist, died for boundaries. A friend suggested I lighten up. My sighs have acquired the lilt and singsong of limericks. There’s more than one way to tame a saint.”

During this event, Jeanine will share how her writing has transformed over the course of her project to capture Joan of Arc through poems. 

About Jeanine Hathaway:
Jeanine Hathaway is the author of the novel, Motherhouse (NY: Hyperion, 1992), the 2001 Vassar Miller Poetry Prize-winning The Self as Constellation (UNT, 2002), the chapbook, The Ex-Nun Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2011), and Long after Lauds (Slant Books, 2019) which won a 2020 Catholic Book Award for Poetry.  She is professor emerita of English at Wichita State University and former mentor in the Seattle Pacific University MFA Creative Writing Program. She lives in Wichita, KS.

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Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $1, $5, or $10 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

Description:
Lesbian bars, libraries, highways, churches, and oil rigs set the scene for the poems in Landlocked. Whether at work or at play, the speakers in Landlocked live in the space between longing and belonging, wanderlust and homesickness, and explore the intersection of place and identity. Like much of Roethke’s work, the poems in Landlocked ask “How does a place shape you and what changes when you choose to leave?”. During this event, Julia will share how she, like Roethke, sought to make sense of her “sighs” of longing, frustration, and joy by turning them into song.

About Julia McConnell:
Julia McConnell is a poet and a librarian. Her manuscript Landlocked was selected by Thomas Lynch as the winner of the 2022 Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize (Emerging). Her chapbook, Against the Blue, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2016. Julia’s publications include Whale Road Review, Shark Reef, Right Hand Pointing, Plainsongs, Lavender Review, and other journals. Originally from Oklahoma, Julia lives in Seattle with her Jack Russell Terrier.

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Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Cost: A donation is required to attend this event. Please select either $1, $5, or $10 donation based on your financial capabilities. If a donation is a hardship right now, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

Description:
Join us for the first event in our 2023 speaker series with Colleen Anderson! As a sometimes-poet, sometimes-songwriter, Colleen’s way into songs often travels that pathway between sighing and singing. During this event, she’ll share her process for creating melodies, discuss the differences she finds between poetry and songs, and share a sample of her work.

About Colleen Anderson:
Colleen Anderson is a writer and graphic designer in Charleston, WV. Her fiction and poetry are widely published, and her songs featured on Mountain Stage and The Folk Sampler. Her children’s book, Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom, won a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Finishing Line Press published her poetry chapbook, Bound Stone.

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Once you’ve completed check out, you will receive two emails: a confirmation email and an email containing the Zoom link for the event. If you do not receive these emails, contact us at info@friendsofroethke.org.