Speaking Our Peace
Event begins at 5:00 PM on May 3, 2026 at Ginkgo coffeehouse (721 N. Snelling, St. Paul).
Speaking Our Peace reading to benefit "PeaceMaker Minnesota".
Join us for a powerful evening of poetry and literature while supporting a great cause: helping kids learn to be peacemakers.
Free, with a suggested donation of $25 to support PeaceMaker Minnesota's mission.
Writers will read work that touches on the importance of bridging divides, fostering kindness and creating a more peaceful world. In partnership with Hamline University Creative Writing Programs.
Refreshments will be provided.
peacemakermn.org
Readers:
G.E. Patterson
Bao Phi
Annie Breitenbucher
Sara Dovre Wudali
Kayla Knoll
Suzanne Swanson
Bios:
G.E. Patterson is a native of St. Paul’s Rondo community. He trained as a poet and translator, earning awards and praise from The Washington Post, The Academy of American Poets, Cave Canem, the Djerassi Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the MN State Arts Board, and New York City’s Fund for Poetry. His large-scale, public work with art & community includes the Dale Street Bridge reconstruction; “CREATE: The Community Meal”; and multi-artist projects in the Republic of Georgia and the Czech Republic). For several years he served as Guest Dramaturg for Theater Münster’s TanzTheater, Germany. He is a senior director at The Loft Literary Center and a contributing writer for Places Journal.
Bao Phi is a Vietnamese American refugee, a Minnesotan, spoken word artist, poet, children's book author, and single co-parent father. He has two poetry collections, Song I Sing and Thousand Star Hotel, and authored four picture books, including A Different Pond and You Are Life. He was on the editorial team of the AANHPI poetry anthology, We The Gathered Heat. His work is anthologized in collections such as A Good Time for the Truth, Octavia's Brood, and a special 2025 issue of McSweeney's. Among the recognitions he's received are multiple City Pages and Star Tribune Artist of the Year awards, and the 2024 Kay Sexton Award for contributions to the literary arts community in Minnesota. His fifth children’s book is forthcoming from Capstone in fall of 2026, and his first book of creative prose is forthcoming from Coffeehouse Press in winter of 2027.
Annie Breitenbucher is a writer living in Minneapolis; she previously worked for the Star Tribune newspaper, where she covered the sports of running and triathlon. Her first poetry collection, “Fortune,” was published by the Laurel Poetry Collective. She has had work published in five anthologies, including “Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude” and “The Wind Blows, The Ice Breaks: Poems of Loss and Renewal by Minnesota Poets.” Her work has also appeared in several literary magazines.
Sara Dovre Wudali is a writer and editor living in Saint Paul. She was a 2023–2024 Poetry Fellow in the Loft Mentor Series and has received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Her poems and essays have been published or are forthcoming in literary journals and anthologies such as North American Review, Poet Lore, under the gum tree, and Sleet Magazine. She is the co-editor of the chapbook, All You Need is One Avocado, co-author of the chapbook The Sweet, the poet-in-residence at Café Marguerite, and a mentor with the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop. Dovre Wudali grew up on a farm in southwest Minnesota, where the wind blows through the cottonwoods and box elder bugs rule. You can learn more and read her work at saradovrewudali.com.
Kayla Knoll is a community health nurse in the Twin Cities metro area. She is graduating with her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Hamline University this month, May 2026. She earned her undergraduate degree in French and English and a Baccalaureate in Nursing at the University of North Dakota. Kayla was selected as a Deborah Keenan Poetry Prize recipient and held the position as Assistant Editor in Poetry for Water~Stone Review volumes 27 & 28. Her master’s thesis is a hybrid poetry and lyric essay collection that focuses on her experience as a healthcare worker and the boundless courage of patients in Minnesota hospital, clinic and community settings. She is co-owner and founder of women-owned pop up bookseller Shelf Indulgence that launches this month. Please find their fun bookish events on Instagram @shelfindulgence.mn
Suzanne Swanson is a retired perinatal psychologist and the author of House of Music and the chapbook What Other Worlds: Postpartum Poems. Suzanne is a winner of the Loft Mentor Series; she helped to found Laurel Poetry Collective. With Sara Dovre Wudali, she co-edited the hybrid chapbook, All You Need Is One Avocado. Recent poems have appeared in EcoTheo Review, Concision Poetry Journal, Land Stewardship Letter, Water~Stone Review, The Iowa Review and NELLE. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Suzanne is happiest near big water.
