SPEAKING OUR PEACE, featuring Margaret Hasse and Michael Kleber-Diggs
Event begins at 6 PM on Sunday May 5, 2024 at Ginkgo coffeehouse (721 N. Snelling, St. Paul).
Come hear live literature and support a great organization dedicated to giving schools tools to stop violence. Free, with suggested donation of $20 to support PeaceMaker Minnesota's mission.
Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.
Writers will read work that touches on the importance of bridging divides, fostering kindness and creating a more peaceful world.
This event is in partnership with Hamline University Creative Writing Programs:
Margaret Hasse
Michael Kleber-Diggs
Satish Jayaraj
Mary Christine Kane
Kayla Knoll
Pamela Schmid
Margaret Hasse, longtime poet-teacher and enthusiastic resident of Mac-Groveland neighborhood, enjoys visiting her poem stamped in St. Paul sidewalks. Her seventh poetry collection, Summoned, was published in 2021, taking its motive force and title from a handmade sign at the Floyd Memorial: “All mothers were summoned when George Floyd called out for his.” Her life in poetry is sustained by other poets; honors, including fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts and The Loft McKnight; and her loved ones.
Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions, 2021), won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. Among other places, Kleber-Diggs’ writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Poem-a-Day, Poetry Daily, Poetry Northwest, Potomac Review, Hunger Mountain, Memorious, and various anthologies. Since 2016, Michael has been an instructor with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. He also teaches Creative Writing in Augsburg University’s low-res MFA program and at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. He lives in Minneapolis.
Satish Jayaraj is the author of two books, 'The Secret of the Zipacna Dragons' and 'Legacy of the Crow', both of which take place in his mythic world of Adijari. He is the cohost of the comedy storytelling podcast " Not your Mother's Mahabharata", where he makes the ancient Indian epic relevant and accessible. He also helps people think creatively on how to better their own lives through 'Imagination Life Coaching.' Although these seem like different things, Satish will argue that each of these projects complement each other perfectly.
Mary Christine Kane works in healthcare marketing and is an animal rescue volunteer. Between the stars where you are lost, Mary’s poetry chapbook, was published in 2019. Her essays and poetry have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, most recently in Chicken Soup for the Soul; Mocking Heart Review, Streetlight and the Last Stanza Poetry Journal. These days she is writing often about love and cats while her companions Mo and Ginger keep the desk warm. Mary earned an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She can be found online at: MaryChristineKane.com.
Kayla Knoll is a Twin Cities-based poet pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline. She received the Deborah Keenan Poetry Award in 2024. She served as the Yearlong Writing Project Apprentice in poetry at the Loft Literary Center in collaboration with poet Gretchen Marquette for 2021-22. Kayla is founder and coordinator for graduate reading series and group VERS/ATILE to engage the community with local up-and-coming artists. She currently serves as Assistant Poetry Editor for Water~Stone Review for Volume 27 with contributor Joan Naviyuk Kane. Kayla is a community health nurse full-time, which inspires much of her writing.
Pamela Schmid is a St. Paul-based writer and editor. She was the recipient of the 2013-14 Loft Literary Mentor Award in nonfiction and the runner-up for the 2014 Wabash Prize for Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, River Teeth, The Common, Blue Mesa Review, Tahoma Literary Review, Baltimore Review and elsewhere. Before receiving her MFA degree in creative writing from Hamline University, she spent more than a decade as a staff writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She has recently completed a memoir about the power of silence and words.
No ticket necessary.
You can come for the entire evening, or enjoy just a few minutes.
