Join us for a special evening of poetry readings featuring our 2022 Poet Artist Collaboration jurors Gwen Westerman and Michael Kleber-Diggs. A moderated conversation facilitated by poet Michael Torres will follow. Audience participation encouraged during Q & A following the conversation.

Thursday, May 12, 5-6:30pm

Michael Torres was born and brought up in Pomona, California. He is a VONA distinguished alum and CantoMundo fellow, has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and National Endowment for the Arts, and is the current Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. His first collection, An Incomplete List of Names, was a National Poetry Series selection. Currently, he teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Gwen Nell Westerman lives in southern Minnesota, as did her Dakota ancestors. Her roots are deep in the landscape of the tallgrass prairie from Oklahoma to Minnesota and reveal themselves in her art and writing through the languages and traditions of her family. Gwen is the current Poet Laureate of Minnesota. Her poems, essays, and short stories appear in numerous publications, including the Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020); the Minnesota issue of Quiltfolk (January 2020); and New Poets of Native Nations (Graywolf Press, 2018). Her poetry collection Follow the Blackbirds (2013) was published by Michigan State University Press.

Michael Kleber-Diggs (KLEE-burr digs) (he / him / his) is a poet, essayist, literary critic, and arts educator. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions 2021), won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and is a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book Award. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.

In celebration of the 2022 Poet Artist Collaboration, Red Wing Arts is hosting weekly Poetry Readings! During these events, participating poets will read a selection of their work, including the work featured in the PAC exhibition. No pre-registration required. RWA welcomes all community members to attend these free weekly readings; come enjoy as your schedule allows.