Good things always come in three. Combine this old adage with the rare magic of Friday the 13th, and you know you're in for a memorable evening. Join us on Friday, 11/13 for a collaborative reading from three talented local poets: Paula Cisewski, Tammy Darrah Wenberg, and Mark Berriman. Alone, their work is outstanding; in shared company, the effect of their voices is sure to enthral, enegize, and inspire. 

Paula Cisewski's third poetry collection, The Threatened Everything, will appear in 2016 through Burnside Review Books, and her first book of lyric prose, Misplaced Sinister, will appear later in 2015 through Red Bird Chapbooks. She is also the author of Ghost Fargo (winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize), Upon Arrival (Black Ocean), the several poetry chapbooks. She has been awarded fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, and Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts. Paula teaches, both academically and privately, and curates artful literary events in the Twin Cities.

Tammy Darrah Wenberg was born in Bethesda, Maryland and grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia and Waupaca, Wisconsin. She earned an M.F.A. in writing at Hamline University, where she also pursued post-graduate study in education. She teaches academic writing at Metropolitan State University. She has served on the editorial board and as the Assistant Poetry Editor for Water~Stone Review. Her poetry has been featured in The Birchbark Books Reading Series, TalkingImageConnection, 100,000 Poets for Change, Cracked Walnut, a JoyFace Poetry and Arts Collective/Fox Egg Gallery event, Art Leadership Program’s artist/poet collaboration, UNFORESEEN, and the Lament for the Dead, online community poetry project. Her latest essay appears in the I’m With Stupid Stories|You Are Always With You blog series. Her current manuscript, Kissing You Wide, explores the vast terrain and specificity of the ways we love what we love. She lives in Lowertown, Saint Paul. 

After living in Atlanta, New York City and Milwaukee, Mark Berriman has called Minnesota his home for the past 20 years. He is a published author, a poet and artist, musician and active community leader. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, his work is influenced by global events as well as post-modern culture. Mark’s first book, “Scar Lit” (2003), was written under the name Mark Edward Marston. He took a ten year break from writing poetry and then returned with the soap box stomping trilogy – “Brutally Frank” (2012), “Kink in the Chain” (2013), and “That Turned Ugly Fast” (2015), which includes a foreword by artist/actor, Viggo Mortensen. Mark has been a guest on many television and radio programs including KARE Television and KSTP Radio. His work has appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Star Tribune, and numerous regional and national periodicals. He has read and performed across the Midwest. and his artwork has been featured in a number of galleries throughout the twin cities.