december is thrilled to announce…

Monday, April 15

Meet & Greet and Readings, Co-hosted with december

1-3 pm, Hearth & Soul (9640 Clayton Rd., 63124)

This is a free event. No RSVP needed.

Hearth & Soul will host Trethewey, Cunningham, Smith, Perry, and Hou for a writers salon where the authors will read from their work and sign books. Copies of the featured writers’ recent and well-known works will be available for sale; for pre-orders, email [email protected].

Panel: Keeping Language Alive

6 pm, Haertter Hall

$5 for students, $20 for adults

Join us for a conversation about keeping language alive — beyond the shorthand of text, X (formerly Twitter), AI, and email. Moderated by Imani Perry and featuring panelists Natasha Trethewey, Michael Cunningham, Maggie Smith, and current National Student Poet Shangri-La Hou. Ticket sales benefit the National Poetry Series. Click here to purchase individual tickets; for group ticket sales, email [email protected].

*Everyone is welcome and wanted — if ticket prices are prohibitive for you, please contact [email protected] to access complimentary tickets.*

Dinner & Auction

7:30-9:30 pm, Private Dining Room

Email [email protected] for tickets (only 30 left!)

An intimate dinner with Trethewey, Cunningham, Smith, Perry, regional poets, and Daniel Halpern, founder and director of the National Poetry Series and an executive editor at Knopf, Penguin Random House. Attendees can purchase full tables of nine seats for $5,000 or single seats for $500; a participating author will occupy the 10th seat at every table. Ticket sales benefit NPS.

Guests will have premiere access to a curated auction of exclusive items — see below. The auction is online and bidding is underway. The auction will close at the dinner on April 15. Auction proceeds benefit NPS.

Also featuring . . . Online Auction!

Margaret Atwood, Terrance Hayes, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Padma Lakshmi, Ann Patchett, and Amy Tan have donated rare literary collectibles for auction to support NPS’s commitment to discovering and publishing new poets. All auction proceeds benefit NPS. In addition, NYC-based restaurants Gramercy Tavern (Danny Meyer ’76) and Balthazar have also donated items to support the mission of NPS. Click here to bid today! The auction will close on April 15.

Featured Authors:

Michael Cunningham is a New York Times bestselling author and winner of both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize (The Hours). He is the recipient of a Whiting Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His newest novel, Day, was released in November ’23.

Imani Perry, Professor in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and in African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She is a New York Times bestselling author and the 2022 National Book Award winner for her book South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.

Maggie Smith is a New York Times bestselling author and poet (Good Bones, Keep Moving, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, etc.). A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and awards from the Ohio Arts Council, the Academy of American Poets.

Natasha Trethewey, 19th Poet Laureate of the United States, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and New York Times bestselling author (Native Guard, Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir).

With local student poet Shangri-La Hou, one of five National Student Poets for 2023 – 2024 and a member of the Class of 2024 at John Burroughs School in St. Louis.

The National Poetry Series (NPS) is a leading organization dedicated to advancing the presence, publication, and accessibility of poetry.