While the slammers are away at IWPS, the quieter side of Union Square Slam is taking over! Join workshop facilitator Sara Emily Kuntz as she hosts readings by her very special workshop crew! Come workshop with us, come read on the open mic, we might even bring snacks!

All Ages // $5 // Wheelchair Accessible

6pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sweet Action members!
7pm: Open Mic Sign-Ups
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:15pm: Readings from: Emily Blair, Mirielle Clifford, Betsy Guttmacher, Julie Hart, Phoebe Lifton, Cory Nakasue, Amy Klein

Sweet Action Poetry Collective was founded in 2014 by Mirielle Clifford and Julie Hart. The group is based in Brooklyn, and was originally named not for the beer, but for a line in a poem that references the beer. Now, to us at least, “Sweet Action” means gathering to share our poems with each other and the public. https://sweetactionpoetry.com/

Bios

Emily Blair’s poetry has appeared in The Boiler, Sixth Finch, The Mississippi Review and others. She received a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Poetry in 2014 and in Fiction in 2006, and is the author of the illustrated chapbook Idaville (Booklyn Artists’ Alliance, 2010). Also a visual artist, she creates multimedia books and collaborates on community-based projects with social practice artist Michelle Illuminato. More of her work can be seen at emilyblair.com and nextquestion.org

Mirielle Clifford is originally from Texas, but she now lives and writes in Crown Heights. She is a co‑founder of the poetry collective Sweet Action, and she couldn’t ask for a better source of feedback and encouragement. She is working on a chapbook, entitled I Follow Beyoncé: A Valentine.

Marine Cornuet’s poetry has appeared in Handsy Lit, Yellow Chair Review (forthcoming), and Cactus Calamité (a French poetry magazine). She works at a Brooklyn not-for-profit exhibition and performance space that she loves, curates exhibitions, and is the production director of the Sonic Room, a group of music-lovers who organize concerts in unconventional places.

Betsy Guttmacher lives in Brooklyn NY where she is currently the Director of Volunteer Programs for a local non-profit organization. She likes taking pictures of found hearts on the sidewalk (@gumloveetc) and encourages everyone to look down more. She is relatively new to reading and writing poetry and is digging it!

Originally from Minnesota, Julie Hart has lived in London, Zurich and Tokyo and now in Brooklyn Heights. Her work can be found in Five Quarterly, Denim Skin, PANK Magazine, The Rumpus, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Floor Plan Journal, Blue Lyra Review, Yellow Chair Review and at juliehartwrites.com.

Amy Klein is a poet, writer, and songwriter living in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the Believer, Prelude, Asymptote, and Podium. Her poetry has received an Academy of American Poets Prize, an Edward Eager Award, and two Lloyd McKim Garrison Prizes. She was a two-time fellow of the Home School for poets and artists. Fire, her newest album of original songs, was released in June 2016 on the punk label Don Giovanni Records.

Sara Emily Kuntz has a BA in English from the University of Pittsburgh and a MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University. Sara is a workshop facilitator and organizer for Union Square Slam, a weekly reading series in New York City. She has been published in the Mom Egg Review, Rivet, Stone Highway Review, Cabildo Quarterly, Rust + Moth, and Cactus Heart. Sara lives in Brooklyn with a big grey cat named Miso, like the soup.

Phoebe Lifton lives in Brooklyn, NY and studied Indigenous Rights and Creative Writing in college. She now works at the Museum of Modern Art and spends most Wednesday nights going to ‘church’ at the Poetry Project in St. Marks. She is a helpful woman.

Cory Nakasue is a dance and theatre artist. She works as a movement teacher, therapist, and astrological guidance counselor. She recently co-founded Gemini Hill in the Hudson Valley, a community farm and arts incubator. Poetry is a new love that has been nurtured by the talented group at Sweet Action poetry. More: www.corynakasue.com