Beaverdale Books partners with newly formed poetry group to celebrate local poetry.

Join us on Friday, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. for snacks, poetry, and plenty of fun, co-sponsored by Beaverdale Books and Poetry&, an initiative to take poetry out into the community in creative, nontraditional ways.

Poetry& partners with organizations, poets, venues, and events to provide, through verse, fresh perspectives on topics of current interest and to give emerging and established poets opportunities to share their work. Sponsored by local poets and poetry lovers, Poetry& will launch a citywide poetry festival in 2023.

The free event will feature short readings by four poets, each with their own distinctive style:

Pella poet John David Thompson will share his new book, Iowa Poems 175: Poetry to Observe Iowa’s 175th Birthday that includes poems from his previous books County Poems of Iowa and Collected Poems. John wrote a whopping 88 new poems for this volume, which he started a year before the pandemic began. All the while, he has worked full-time as a teacher of English, commuting 40 miles a day from Pella to the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont schools.

Staci Harper-Bennett is the author of four chapbooks, Soon is Not, Brittle Futures, Thirty, and Crime Scenes, and is known throughout the Midwest for her written and spoken word poetry. She has performed at events such as Slutwalk Des Moines and One Billion Rising and lent her voice and experience to “Words Save Lives,” an exploration of poetry as a suicide prevention tool. When not writing poetry, she can be found furiously working on her dissertation for a doctoral degree from Creighton University or working at the Downtown Chamber of Commerce.

Isabella Brantley was six years old when she started writing short stories and illustrating them. Her dad was very supportive of her writing path and saved several of her stories. He is still very supportive. At Stilwell, she wrote a poem entitled, Born Equal, They Say, seen through the eyes of a person with disabilities. Shortly after writing that poem, she began working with Jan Fleming who became her writing mentor. Together they are working to soon publish a book of poetry.

Prince Harrison Jr is a 19-year-old poet from Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of the poetry book, Asocial, which includes various types of poetry. When he’s not writing, Prince loves to play basketball and spend time with his family.

Beaverdale Books will have books available for purchase and signing.