It’s National Poetry Month! Poetry Book Clubs and Poetry Readings, Poet Friends and Book Parties, and More
- At April 12, 2026
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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Literary Kittens Charlotte and Sylvia with Kelli’s newest book
It’s National Poetry Month! Poetry Book Clubs and Upcoming Poetry Readings
My poetry calendar is getting crowded, and I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use the distraction.
This Wednesday at J. Bookwalter’s in Woodinville, at 6:30 PM we’ll be meeting at our monthly book club to discuss Kelli Russell Agodon’s newest book, Accidental Devotions, just out from Copper Canyon Press. (Well, technically its launch date is in May, but we’re celebrating early, because Poetry Month!) Here are my cats jealously guarding their early copy. I have already read the book and know it’s fantastic. I recommend it.
And on April 23rd, J. Bookwalter’s Tasting Studio in Woodinville is re-starting its Wine and Poetry Night with Kelli Russell Agodon reading from her new book. I’ll be hosting and doing an introduction.
We’ll have wine to buy (I recommend the Double Plot if you like white, and Suspense if you like reds,) books to buy, snacks to eat, and a brief open mic. Starting at 6:30 PM and ending at 8:30 PM. I hope we draw a crowd of poetry lovers and just casual poetry fans.
It should be a fun night!
I am also looking forward to just spending time with poet friends this month!
Poet Friends: Erika Wright, me, and Catherine Broadwall
And just in case this isn’t enough poetry for you, I’ll be reading at the Poetry Book Party for Catherine Broadwall’s new book Aftermath from Girl Noise Press on May 5th at Vermillion in Capital Hill, as part of the opening act at 7 PM. Catherine is the poet on the right in this picture with a Rainier cherry tree.
In between all this poetry month (and early May) excitement, I’ll be welcoming my nephew Dustin Hall’s move to the area, celebrating my birthday, and probably snapping pictures of tulips, daffodils and cherry blossoms along the way.
I also have a poem in the upcoming “Loneliness” issue of Prairie Schooner, along with friend Aimee Nezhukumathil, and another upcoming in the next issue of Cimarron. So keep your eyes open! Until next week, friends!
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- Weeping cherry, Woodinville
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- My own cherry tree, nighttime blooms
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- tulips and daffodils on my back porch
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
