“Queer Nature” is an anthology that amplifies and centers LGBTQIA+ voices and perspectives in a collection of contemporary nature poetry. Showcasing over two hundred queer writers from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, Queer Nature offers a new context for and expands upon the canon of nature poetry while also offering new lenses through which to view queerness and the natural world. The anthology is a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in LGBTQ+ Anthology

Editor Michael Walsh of the anthology will moderate the reading. Poets from the anthology James Cihlar, KateLynn Hibbard, Su Smallen Love, Rachel Moritz, Juliet Patterson, William Reichard and Morgan Grayce Willow will share their work.

A reception with light refreshments will follow the conversation along with the sale of this book and a book signing.

About the Readers:

James Cihlar’s most recent book is The Shadowgraph, published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2020. His previous books include Rancho Nostalgia and Undoing. His poetry chapbooks are A Conversation with My Imaginary Daughter, What My Family Used, and Metaphysical Bailout. His writing has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Threepenny Review, Lambda Literary Review, and The Gay and Lesbian Review. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his husband.

KateLynn Hibbard’s books include Sleeping Upside Down (Silverfish Review Press), Sweet Weight (Tiger Bark Press), and Simples (Howling Bird Press), and she is editor of When We Become Weavers: Queer Female Poets on the Midwest Experience (Squares & Rebels Press). A professor of writing and women’s history at Minneapolis College, she lives with many pets and her spouse Jan in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Su Smallen Love is the author of six collections of poetry, including Buddha, Proof, a Minnesota Book Award finalist, Weight of Light, a Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award nominee, and The Memoir of Mona Lisa and Other Poems. Her work has been recognized internationally with residencies and publications, most recently by the Unamuno Author Series in Madrid, Spain, and Salmon Literary Centre in County Clare, Ireland. Su was a professional dancer and choreographer, and her poetry has served as scores for dance and film. You can find some films, poems, and interviews of Su at sulove.org.

Rachel Moritz is the author of Sweet Velocity (Lost Roads Press, 2017), Borrowed Wave (Kore Press, 2015), and five poetry chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, American Letters and Commentary, Colorado Review, Iowa Review, Tupelo Quarterly, VOLT, Water~Stone Review, and other journals. She’s been honored with a Best American Essay Notable Mention and Artist Initiative Grant in poetry and prose from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Rachel lives in Minneapolis with her partner, the writer Juliet Patterson, and their son.

Juliet Patterson is the author of the memoir Sinkhole: A Natural History of Suicide (Milkweed Editions, September 2022) and two full-length poetry collections, Threnody(Nightboat, 2016) and The Truant Lover (Nightboat, 2006). She lives in Minneapolis on the west bank of the Mississippi near the Great River Road

William Reichard is a writer, editor, and educator. His most recent books are Our Delicate Barricades Downed (Broadstone Books, 2021) and The Night Horse: New and Selected Poems (Brighthorse Books, 2020).

Morgan Grayce Willow has published several poetry collections and chapbooks, including: Dodge & Scramble, Between, Silk, Oddly Enough, The Maps are Words. As essayist, Morgan’s work has appeared in Third Coast, Imagination & Place: Cartography, and the anthology Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers (Borealis Books). Her essay “(Un)Document(ing)” from WaterStone Review #22 was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. As a book artist, Morgan exhibited her artist’s book Collage for Mina Loy at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (2016) and contributed poetry and visual art to the Quilt, Not Quilt exhibition and its accompanying chapbook Stitch by Stitch (2018).