Past Events

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Robert Fitterman & Safa Khatib

To inaugurate our National Poetry Month series of events, join us for a reading with Robert Fitterman and Safa Khatib, two poets with ties to Saint Louis whose work innovates across histories, geographies, and languages.

Presented in partnership with Saint Louis University Department of English and Left Bank Books.
High Low | 3301 Washington Ave.

Translational Catastrophes / Translating Catastrophe

Hurst Lounge, Duncker Hall

Meet and Greet with Daniel Borzutzky

Jolley Hall, conference room 4th floor, 431

Hanif Abdurraqib - There’s Always This Year

The St. Louis County Library Foundation and Left Bank Books Present National Book Award Finalist Hanif Abdurraqib, Author of “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension”
St. Louis County Library - Clark Family Branch | 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Ravi Gupta - Garbage Town

Join Left Bank Books to welcome Ravi Gupta, serial social entrepreneur dedicated to reforming civic institutions. He is the cofounder and CEO of The Branch, a media company committed to combating online polarization. He co-hosts the Majority 54 podcast with Jason Kander.
399 N. Euclid Ave.

Public Lecture and Reading with María José Navia

Ginkgo Reading Room | Olin Library

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories

Join Goodie House every 4th Thursday of the month from February to October to hear poets, authors, musicians and performers of all kinds share their stories.

Poetry at the Point: Scott Berzon & Michael Pfiefer

This reading will be held in-person at Focal Point, and also streamed live to this event page and to Saint Louis Poetry Center’s Facebook page.
Focal Point | 2720 Sutton, Maplewood, MO

Toxic Tropics: Presentation by Jessica Oublié

Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Grant Info Session – March 2025

Jolley Hall 431

Visiting Hurst Professor - Reading - Namwali Serpell

Hurst Lounge

Visiting Hurst Professor - Lecture - Namwali Serpell

Hurst Lounge

Creative Practice Workshop Application Deadline

Visiting Writer - Pip Adam

Hurst Lounge

Ada Calhoun - Crush

Join us as we welcome Ada Calhoun, NY Times Bestselling author of Why We Can't Sleep, Also a Poet, & St. Marks Is Dead. We are excited to welcome Ada back for another great visit to St. Louis for her first novel Crush!

Poetry and Conflict: Pádraig Ó Tuama Public Lecture

Poetry is an art that has always concerned itself with the questions of life: what’s growing, what’s not, what’s thriving, what’s not, what’s being stifled, what’s being fed. The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics is delighted to host Pádraig Ó Tuama as he explores dynamics of conflict, language, rhyme, description, and resolution for this engaging evening at Washington University in St. Louis.
Emerson Auditorium in Knight Hall

Oksana Maksymchuk Reading

Join the International Writers Series for an evening of poetry with Oksana Maksymchuk, a bilingual Ukranian-American poet, scholar, and literary translator. She will read and discuss her debut English-language poetry collection Still City, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024) which reflects on the ongoing invasion of her home country. Lauris Veips, PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature, will join her in conversation.
John M. Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories

Join Goodie House every 4th Thursday of the month from February to October to hear poets, authors, musicians and performers of all kinds share their stories.

Eli Zuzovsky - Mazeltov

Join Left Bank Books as they welcome Eli Zuzovsky to celebrate the release of his highly anticipated debut Mazeltov. Zuzovsky will personalize and sign copies after the presentation.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Georgia K. Johnston Writer-in-Residency Program: Hoa Nguyen

Hoa Nguyen is the author of several books, including Red Juice: Poems 1998 - 2008 and the Griffin Prize-nominated Violet Energy Ingots
Adorjan Hall, Room 142, 3800 Lindell Blvd.

Rebe Huntman - My Mother in Havana

Join us as we welcome Rebe Huntman, memoirist, essayist, dancer, teacher and poet, to celebrate the release of her highly anticipated memoir My Mother in Havana!

Americanist Dinner Forum with Vanessa Angélica Villarreal

All are invited for dinner and conversation with Vanessa Angélica Villarreal.
Umrath Lounge

Saint Louis’s Indie Publishing Scene

Join us for a panel discussion with five local publishers specializing in poetry, fiction, art, and essays. They will share insights into their work, explore the unconventional methods they use, and discuss the benefits and challenges of operating outside the major commercial publishing hubs. Martin Riker, Director of the Publishing Concentration at WashU, will moderate the conversation, with time for audience questions.
John M. Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

Visiting Writer - Tommye Blount

Hurst Lounge

CDI Book Club Presents: A Reading and Q&A with poet Danez Smith

Umrath Lounge

James H. Nash Poetry Contest

Submissions Open: February 1 – March 15. Open to all current SLPC members, and to current residents or students in the St. Louis metro area living within a 100-mile radius of St. Louis City.
Online

Literary St. Louis

Home to literary giants Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Maya Angelou, and John Keene (to name a few!), St. Louis is renowned for its literary roots. This history lives on in St. Louis’s thriving literary arts scene today.

The Literary St. Louis exhibition traces WashU’s engagement in historical and contemporary reading series, print culture, and creative communities to celebrate the legacy of literary arts in St. Louis and the local cultural institutions bringing us literature today.

Postdoctoral fellow with the WashU Center for the Literary Arts Ashley Colley organized this exhibition.
John M. Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

Creative Practice Workshop Info Session

Zoom

Poetry at the Point: Jennifer Whalen & Sebastián Páramo

This reading will be held in-person at Focal Point, and also streamed live to this event page and to Saint Louis Poetry Center’s Facebook page.

Judy Mundle - Block Manager

Join us as we welcome Judy Mundle, 2024 Indie Author Project Award-Memoir Winner, celebrating her book The Block Manager: A True Story of Love in the Midst of Japanese American Internment Camps.

Guggenheim Fellowship Application Writing Session

101 South Hanley

Literature in the Making: A Public Reading

Please join us to celebrate the creative work of students taking the course Literature in the Making
Hurst Lounge | Duncker Hall, 2nd Floor

A World of Words Undergraduate Reading

Please join us in celebrating the written work of students taking Professor Goeritz's "A World of Words" course!
Seigle 109

WashU Reads Han Kang: A Celebration

Paige Aniyah Morris, writer and translator
Danforth University Center 276

Artist Talk: Nicole Mitchell, creative flutist/composer/poet

In partnership with New Music Circle
Pillsbury Theatre, 560 Music Center

Creative Practice Workshop Info Session

Zoom

Author Event: Eileen G'Sell & Tola Sylvan

Subterranean Books presents Eileen G'Sell, with opening poet Tola Sylvan

What’s Important in Verse Translation?

Diane Arnson Svarlien, Independent Scholar
Goldberg Formal Lounge | DUC

"Un Afrofuturisme caribéen - Rencontre avec Michael Roch" (A Caribbean Afro-Futurism, A Conversation with Michael Roch)

Orchid Room

Left Bank Books Presents Mary Jo Bang & Yuki Tanaka

Mary Jo Bang & Yuki Tanaka - A Kiss for the Absolute: Selected Poems of Shuzo Takiguchi

Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Grant Info Session

Jolley Hall 422

Poetry Reading: John Dorsey, Jason Ryberg & Brett Lars Underwood

Subterranean Books is excited to host three renowned local poets: John Dorsey, Jason Ryberg & Brett Lars Underwood

International Writers Series: New Poetry From Europe

Join WashU Libraries and the Department of Comparative Literature and Thought for an evening of new poetry from Europe. Poets Efe Duyan, Marko Pogačar, and Ales Steger join us under the auspices of Versopolis, an online European poetry platform for emerging European poets.
John M. Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

Catherine Lacey - Reading

Catherine Lacey - Craft Talk

"Matignon la nuit" - Lecture by Dr. Nicolas Idier

Dr. Nicolas Idier, a prominent French novelist, sinologist, French diplomat, and Inspector-General of Chinese Language Education in France, is our guest of honor.
Gignko Room, Olin Library

In Conversation with That Librarian

The WashU Libraries, Saint Louis University Libraries, and St. Louis City Libraries invite you to a panel discussion examining the rise in book bans in recent years, and the implications for libraries, librarians, and intellectual freedom.
Anheuser-Busch Hall, Crowder Courtyard

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (October)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Guggenheim Fellowship Info Session

Jolley Hall 422

Ira Sukrungruang - Reading

Realistic Hope: American Democracy and the 2024 Election

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics is pleased to host a special Danforth Dialogues event focused on the 2024 presidential election. Realistic Hope: American Democracy and the 2024 Election will explore the place of faith and imagination in our current politics and public life.
Graham Chapel

William H. Gass Centenary Celebration

Join us to celebrate the centenary of William H. Gass (1924-2017), renowned postmodern fiction writer, essayist, and Washington University professor emeritus. A panel of former students and colleagues of Gass will discuss his influence on their lives and careers. Then, WashU’s Martin Riker will interview novelist and Conjunctions editor Bradford Morrow to discuss Morrow’s long friendship and professional relationship with Gass. A reception and exhibit viewing will follow these talks.
Holmes Lounge, Olin Library, and Zoom

Garth Greenwell - Small Rain

Join us as we welcome award-winning author Garth Greenwell. Greenwell is an alumnus of Washington University of St. Louis, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to St. Louis to discuss his new highly anticipated novel Small Rain. Greenwell will discuss and sign this profound and luminous novel.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Georgia K. Johnston Writer-in-Residency Program: Deborah Taffa

Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo. She earned her M.F.A. at the Iowa Writers Workshop and is the director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Adorjan Hall, Room 142, 3800 Lindell Blvd.

Banned Books September Book Bazaar

Join us today for the Banned Books September Pop-Up Book Bazaar at the High Low! The event features books that have been banned for a variety of reasons across the United States. Come by, grab a tasty beverage & a snack, and chat with some of your favorite booksellers about ALL of your favorite banned books!
3301 Washington Ave.

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (September)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Banned Books Week: Carmen Maria Machado Reading

Holmes Lounge

Howard Nemerov Scholars Open Mic

Hurst Lounge, Duncker Hall

John Murillo - Craft Talk

Sarah Smarsh - Bone of the Bone

Join us as we welcome Sarah Smarsh back to Left Bank Books! Her first book, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

John Murillo - Reading

Lars Horn - Reading

Hurst Lounge

Janelle Bassett - Thanks for This Riot: Stories

Join us as we welcome Janelle Bassett for the launch event for Thanks for This Riot. Bassett, winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, is a St. Louis area writer and fiction editor.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Kenzie Allen - Cloud Missives

Join us as we welcome Kenzie Allen, Haudenosaunee poet and multimodal artist, to Left Bank Books.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Stuart Neville - Blood Like Mine

Join us as we welcome award-winning author Stuart Neville all the way from Belfast for his new book Blood Like Mine.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Author Event: Adam “Bucho” Rodenberger

Adam “Bucho” Rodenberger is a 44-year old abstract artist and fiction writer from Kansas City, specializing in surrealism, dark fiction, horror, and dystopian stories.
Subterranean Books, 6271 Delmar

Calahan Skogman - Blue Graffiti

Join us as we welcome debut author and star of Netflix's Emmy-nominated show Shadow and Bone, Calahan Skogman! Skogman will join us for a special VIP discussion and reading followed by a signing line. Join us to celebrate Skogman's debut book Blue Graffiti!
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Author Event: Rebecca Anne Nguyen

NEW YORK TIMES essayist and 2024 Reader's Choice Award winner Rebecca Anne Nguyen's stunning debut. In The 23rd Hero, an ordinary woman with an extraordinary memory travels back in time to 16th century France to stop climate change before it starts and return to the man she loves.
Subterranean Books, 6271 Delmar

P. Djèlí Clark - The Dead Cat Tail Assassins w/ Ann Leckie

Join us as we celebrate P. Djèlí Clark for his new book The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 According to Bookish, She Reads, Civilian Reader, and FanFiAddict, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Kat Tang - Five-Star Stranger

Join us as we celebrate the debut novel from Kat Tang. Tang recently lived in St. Louis, and we are excited to welcome her back to celebrate Five-Star Stranger.
Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave

Scott Phillips: The Devil Raises His Own

Subterranean hosts the St. Louis book launch for Scott's new book, The Devil Raises His Own. Tonight, he will be in conversation with Jedidiah Ayers.
Subterranean Books, 6271 Delmar

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (July)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (June)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Lisa See - Lady Tan's Circle of Women

Left Bank Books presents New York Times Bestselling author Lisa See to celebrate the paperback release for Lady Tan's Circle of Women. Join us in store with Lisa See as we discuss the immersive tale about an elite woman who becomes a physician in spite of societal restrictions during China's Ming Dynasty.
Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid Ave)

Elin Hilderbrand - Swan Song (In Store Signing Line)

Left Bank Books presents beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand for the twenty-seventh--and final--Nantucket-based novel Swan Song. Join us in store for a celebrity signing line from 5-7pm as we thank Elin as she brings her Nantucket novels to a brilliant finish. The official event color is Kelly Green. Elin will take photos with attendees wearing Kelly Green for her Instagram!
Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid Ave)

Paul Tremblay - Horror Movie

Bestselling author of “The Cabin at the End of the World,” Paul Tremblay presents a chilling twist on the “cursed film” genre. In 1993, a group of guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making “Horror Movie,” a notorious art-house horror flick. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot. The man who played “The Thin Kid” is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. But he’s going to help remake the film—demons of the past be damned. “Horror Movie” is a suspenseful feat of storytelling genius that builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.
St. Louis County Library Clark Family Branch (1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd.)

Lindsay Ellis - Apostles of Mercy

Left Bank Books and Schlafly Public Library presents Hugo nominated and best selling author Lindsay Ellis to celebrate her highly anticipated third book in the Noumena series, Apostles of Mercy! Join us as we discuss the new installment in a staff favorite series. Left Bank Books' staff member Alicia says of the series, "I am definitely putting it on my 'read over and over' shelf."
Schlafly Public Library (225 N. Euclid Ave)

Chigozie Obioma - The Road to the Country

Left Bank Books presents two-time Booker Prize nominee Chigozie Obioma to celebrate the release of his new highly praised book The Road to the Country. Imbolo Mbue says that, "The Road to the Country is Chigozie Obioma at his finest." And Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah calls it, "a wonderous novel."
Left Bank Books (399 N Euclid Ave)

Author Event: Lisa Ampleman

Mom in Space is a complicated love letter to both the intergalactic and the terrestrial. Using the lens of spaceflight, Lisa Ampleman explores subjects ranging from the personal to the political, from fertility tests and parenting to climate change and civil rights. As NASA and commercial space companies gear up for Artemis missions to the moon, Mom in Space offers new conceptions of women in space, incorporating both fictional and real female astronauts, among them the first mom in space (Anna Fisher) and the first Black woman in space (Mae Jemison). With a sense of both awe and informed inquiry, Mom in Space considers what spaceflight means not just for those who get rocketed into space but for those who stay home.
Subterranean Books

Jenna Tang - Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise

Left Bank Books & Taipei Cultural Center (TCC) in New York presents Jenna Tang. Tang is the translator for Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise, one of the biggest books to come out of Taiwan in the last decade. Join us as Tang discuss the most influential book of Taiwan's #MeToo movement--a heartbreaking account of sexual violence and a remarkable reinvention of the trauma plot, turning the traditional Lolita narrative upside down as it explores women's vulnerability, victimization, and the lengths they will go to survive.
Left Bank Books (399 N Euclid Ave)

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (May)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Poetry Reading: Ariana Benson and Dana Levin

Missouri Botanical Garden | Lelia J. and David N. Farr Auditorium

Daniel Handler AKA Lemony Snicket - And Then? and Then? What Else?

Left Bank Books presents bestselling author Daniel Handler AKA Lemony Snicket for his new part memoir, part inspiration for aspiring writers And Then? and Then? What Else? described as a bold, candid, vulnerable, and entertaining memoir of a literary life. This is the first book to be published with both given name and alias where we will look at the challenging and often amusing path toward one of the most spectacularly successful writing careers of the twenty-first century.
Ethical Society of St. Louis (9001 Clayton Rd.)

Renée Watson - Skin & Bones

Left Bank Books & Kimbilio for Black Fiction presents Renée Watson, #1 New York Times Bestselling author, to discuss her highly anticipated adult debut novel Skin & Bones! Skin & Bones is a soulful and lyrical novel exploring sisterhood, motherhood, faith, love, and ultimately what gets passed down from one generation to the next.
Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid Ave)

Rachel Khong - Real Americans

The St. Louis County Library Foundation and Left Bank Books Present Acclaimed Novelist Rachel Khong, Author of “Real Americans." Khong presents an exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family. “Real Americans” begins on the precipice of Y2K, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution, meets easygoing and effortlessly attractive Matthew - heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire.
St. Louis County Library, Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd., Ellisville, MO

Assistant Professor of French Nathan H. Dize's Translation of Makenzy Orcel's The Emperor

Please join the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures in celebrating Assistant Professor of French Nathan H. Dize's new translation of Makenzy Orcel's novel The Emperor (University of Chicago Press)
Olin Library, Room 142

Poetry Reading: Hadara Bar-Nadav & Asha Futterman

Join Saint Louis Poetry Center and Left Bank Books for a reading and celebration of poetry by Hadara Bar-Nadav & Asha Futterman. Copies of The Animal is Chemical will be available for purchase from Left Bank Books. Cash bar.
High Low | 3301 Washington Ave.

Goodie House: Poetry and Stories (April)

Goodie House presents poetry and story readings every fourth Thursday. Follow them on Instagram (instagram.com/goodiehouse) for details on each month's readers.
Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Ave.

Poetry at the Point: Melody S. Gee, Carolina Hotchandani & Catherine Anderson

Perugia Press and Saint Louis Poetry Center present acclaimed poets Melody S. Gee, Carolina Hotchandani and Catherine Anderson for a Perugia Press Showcase reading.
The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd.

Visiting Hurst Professor: Laird Hunt - Reading

Washington University Department of English is proud to welcome Professor Laird Hunt as part of its Hurst Visiting Professors Series.
Duncker Hall, Rm. 201 | Hurst Lounge

Visiting Hurst Professor: Laird Hunt - Craft Talk

Washington University Department of English is proud to welcome Professor Laird Hunt as part of its Hurst Visiting Professors Series.
Duncker Hall, Rm. 201 | Hurst Lounge

On Palestinian Literature: past, present, and future

A talk on art, scholarship, and community
Kuehner Court | Weil Hall

International Writers Series: Esther Kinsky

Join the International Writers Series for an evening of fiction in translation with the 2024 Max Kade Visiting Writer Esther Kinsky, one of Germany’s most celebrated living authors. She will read and discuss her most recently translated novel Rombo (New York Review Books, 2023). Danielle Dutton, Associate Professor of English, will join her in conversation.
John M. Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

Sunday Workshop: Edgar Kunz & Reyes Ramirez

This workshop will be held in-person at High Low. In conjunction with our April Observable Readings, Saint Louis Poetry Center is thrilled to welcome poets Edgar Kunz and Reyes Ramirez for the April Sunday Workshop!
High Low | 3301 Washington Avenue

Observable Readings: Edgar Kunz & Reyes Ramirez

Saint Louis Poetry Center is thrilled to welcome poets Edgar Kunz and Reyes Remirez for Observable Readings.

High Low | 3301 Washington Ave.

Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Grant April Info Session

DUC 248

Visiting Hurst Professor: Lidia Yuknavitch - Reading

Washington University Department of English is proud to welcome Professor Lidia Yuknavitch as part of its Hurst Visiting Professors Series.
Duncker Hall, Rm. 201 | Hurst Lounge

Inaugural Dean’s Distinguished Lecture with Carl Phillips, “Pressure Against Emptiness: Some Thoughts on Making”

Carl Phillips is a celebrated poet, essayist, and professor whose work has garnered critical acclaim and captivated readers around the world. With numerous accolades to his name, including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Phillips is recognized as one of the most influential voices in contemporary literature.
Clark-Fox Forum, Hillman Hall, Washington University