Summer 2024 Solitary Plover Reading
2024-08-08 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
The Friends of Lorine Niedecker will host a reading by the poets published in the Summer 2024 Solitary Plover on Thursday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. CST.

We invite you to join us for this virtual reading conducted on Zoom.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81761798711

North Central Reading Series: Sara Ellen Fowler & José Felipe Alvergue
2024-10-20 17:00 - 18:00
Friends of Lorine Niedecker (FoLN) are delighted to host poets Sara Ellen Fowler and José Felipe Alvergue for a virtual reading on Sunday, October 20th, 2024 at 5pm CST.

Sara Ellen Fowler’s first book, Two Signatures (University of Utah Press, 2024) was selected by Joan Naviyuk Kane as winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize. Sara is a writer, artist, and educator living in California. Her writing has appeared in The Offing, X-TRA Contemporary Art Journal, Interim, and Gigantic Sequins, among others. Her work has been supported by The Frost Place, the Ashbery Home School, and Community of Writers. In 2023, she was awarded a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. Sara holds a BFA in Sculpture from Art Center College of Design and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside.

José Felipe Alvergue is the author of three books, most recently scenery. His book of sonnet-essays, en el norte/soy del sur, is forthcoming with Omnidawn. José teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

North Central is a virtual reading series providing a space to gather and hear living poets who connect in various ways to the poetry of Lorine Niedecker. The series takes its title from North Central (London: Fulcrum Press, 1968), the third book of poems published in Niedecker’s lifetime. The readings are curated by Chuck Stebelton and Richard Meier and supported by the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Past readers have included Merrill Gilfillan, Joshua Beckman, Tirzah Goldenberg, Noah Zannella, and Shannon Tharp. Readings are held twice per year, in October and March.

Niedecker's Binoculars: A virtual talk by Patrick Morrissey
2024-11-10 17:00 - 18:00
Friends of Lorine Niedecker (FoLN) are delighted to host poet and essayist Patrick Morrissey for a virtual talk delivered via Zoom on Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 5pm CST. This event will be recorded.

This talk will consider the significance of double vision, shifting scales, and embarrassment in the poetry of Lorine Niedecker. Through close consideration of a few favorite poems and some speculation about the value of poetry, Morrissey hopes to open up a conversation about Niedecker’s ways of seeing and some ways we might “carry our clarity with us.”

About the Speaker

Patrick Morrissey’s third book of poems, Light Box, was published by Verge Books in 2023. His essays have appeared recently in Annulet: A Journal of Poetics, Chicago Review, and Textual Practice. He teaches at the University of Chicago.

Winter 2025 Solitary Plover Reading
2025-03-13 18:30 - 20:00
The Friends of Lorine Niedecker are pleased to host a reading by the poets published in the Winter 2025 Solitary Plover at 6:30pm (Central Time) on Thursday, March 13. Poets will read their work from the latest edition of the Solitary Plover and share a favorite poem of Niedecker’s.

The event will be hosted on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81018971193

North Central Reading Series: Lisa Fishman & Jordan Dunn
2025-04-06 17:00 - 18:00
Friends of Lorine Niedecker (FoLN) are delighted to host poets Lisa Fishman and Jordan Dunn for a virtual reading on Sunday, April 6th, 2025 at 5pm CST.

Lisa Fishman is the author of eight books of poetry, a short story collection, and several chapbooks. Her newest poetry book is One Big Time, out on Wave Books in spring, 2025. World Naked Bike Ride was published in Canada by Gaspereau Press in 2022 and was a finalist for the Canadian ReLit Award in short fiction. Other Wave poetry titles are Mad World, Mad Kings, Mad Composition (2020) and 24 Pages and other poems (2015). She continues to live primarily on the farm she and her husband started in 1999 in Orfordville, Wisconsin, dividing her time between Wisconsin and Canada. She is a dual US/Canadian with earlier roots in both the Detroit area and Montreal.

Jordan Dunn is the author of Notation (Third Hand Books, 2024) and Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action (Partly Press, 2022) as well as various chapbooks and ephemeral prints including Common Names, Reactor Woods, and A Walk at Doolittle State Preserve. He lives with his family in Madison, WI, where he edits and publishes Oxeye Press.

North Central is a virtual reading series providing a space to gather and hear living poets who connect in various ways to the poetry of Lorine Niedecker. The series takes its title from North Central (London: Fulcrum Press, 1968), the third book of poems published in Niedecker’s lifetime. The readings are curated by Chuck Stebelton and Richard Meier and supported by the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Past readers have included Merrill Gilfillan, Joshua Beckman, Tirzah Goldenberg, José Felipe Alvergue, and Shannon Tharp. Readings are held twice per year.

This event will be recorded. Please join us Sunday, April 6th at 5pm CST on Zoom

Summer 2025 Solitary Plover Reading
2025-08-14 18:30 - 19:30
The Friends of Lorine Niedecker will host a reading by the poets published in the Summer 2025 Solitary Plover on Thursday, August 14 at 6:30 p.m. CST.

We invite you to join us for this virtual reading conducted on Zoom.

Community Screening of 'Welcome Poets' from PBS Wisconsin at the Hoard Historical Museum
2025-09-12 17:00 - 21:00
Join us at the Hoard Historical Museum for two consecutive special community screenings of the brand new Welcome Poets from PBS Wisconsin. This narrative series of six documentary shorts follows former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Nicholas Gulig in a reflective homecoming, interwoven with the life and work of Fort Atkinson’s own Lorine Niedecker (1903–1970). Through shared landscapes, memory, and poetry, Welcome Poets explores identity, place and the power of poetry to give voice to community.

The first screening will start promptly at 5 p.m. followed by a second screening at 7 p.m. Please RSVP for the screening you plan to attend.

After each screening, stay for a brief Q&A and connect with fellow poetry lovers and neighbors. We look forward to seeing you there!

Event Date & Time:Friday September 12, 2025*two consecutive screening opportunitiesFirst screening: 5pmSecond screening: 7pmEvent Location:Hoard Historical Museum401 Whitewater AvenueFort Atkinson, WI 53538

(920) 397-9914info@hoardmuseum.org

PBS Wisconsin broadcast premiere of 'Welcome Poets' on March 1 at 6:30 p.m. Central
2026-03-01 18:30 - 19:30
After its debut as a digital-only series last fall, Welcome Poets is heading to the airwaves! Catch the broadcast premiere on PBS Wisconsin on Sunday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m., with several additional opportunities to tune in throughout the month:

Saturday, March 7 at 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 8 at 9 a.m.

Monday, March 9 at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 11 at 11:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 14 at 10:30 a.m.

Can’t make it to your TV? The full 6-chapter documentary — plus bonus web content — is available to stream anytime at pbswisconsin.org/welcomepoets.

***Welcome Poets is a documentary from PBS Wisconsin that weaves together the stories of two Wisconsin poets connected by the city of Fort Atkinson. Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Nicholas Gulig serves as narrator and guide, reflecting on how the life and work of the 20th-century poet Lorine Niedecker shaped his own path as a writer and his decision to make her hometown his home. Drawing on archival materials, documentary footage, and personal reflection, the doc explores themes of place, belonging and the enduring power of poetry.

Winter 2026 Solitary Plover Reading - March 12 at 6:30 p.m. [Virtual]
2026-03-12 18:30 - 19:30
The Friends of Lorine Niedecker will host a virtual reading by the poets published in the Winter 2026 Solitary Plover. Poets will read their work from the new issue and share a favorite poem of Niedecker’s.Click on the “Zoom link” button below to join the meeting. If you are prompted for a Meeting ID, use: 878 6937 1538Our thanks to Woodland Pattern who generously partner with us to host and administer the Zoom reading.

The Friends of Lorine Niedecker is dedicated to preserving and expanding the legacy of Lorine Niedecker. The organization offers access to research archives and educational materials, and publishes The Solitary Plover, a semiannual newsletter, and What Region, a monograph series.

North Central: A Virtual Reading Series presents Ed Roberson & Joel Felix
2026-03-27 19:00 - 20:00
The Friends of Lorine Niedecker welcome two innovative poets for a free, virtual poetry reading and discussion, open to all, on Friday, March 27, 2026 at 7 p.m. Central.

Ed Roberson is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Asked What Has Changed (Wesleyan University Press, 2021), a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize. His most recent publications include the chapbook Five Poems for a Quartet (Foolscap Poetry, 2025) and found poem(s) (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2024), a collaboration with photographer Ken Taylor. Since 2023 he has served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Roberson’s varied career has seen him working in Pittsburgh steel mills, in an advertising graphics agency, as a limnologist’s assistant, and as a Rutgers University administrator. His extensive travels have taken him to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, Mexico, the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Andes, and West Africa. Since moving to Chicago in 2004, he has held teaching positions at Columbia College, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. His many honors include the Jackson Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award.

Joel Felix awoke in the shadow of Ford Motor’s River Rouge plant, birthplace of automation. His most recent publication is Holograms of Dawn (selva oscura press). He is currently being raised by children in Lake City, Seattle.

North Central is a virtual reading series providing a space to gather and hear living poets who connect in various ways to the poetry of Lorine Niedecker. The series takes its title from North Central (London: Fulcrum Press, 1968), the third book of poems published in Niedecker’s lifetime. The readings are supported by the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Past readers have included Merrill Gilfillan, Joshua Beckman, Tirzah Goldenberg, Noah Zannella, and Shannon Tharp. Readings are held twice per year, in the fall and the spring.

This virtual event will take place on Zoom and will be recorded.

Click for Zoom Event Link

Learn information about the Friends of Lorine Niedecker.

Visit our YouTube playlist to view past events in the North Central reading series.

For more information about this event, contact David Pavelich: david.pavelich@gmail.com
