In its 42nd year, the 2026 Salina Spring Poetry Series features a lineup of accomplished poets who will read in downtown Salina. In-person readings will occur at 7 pm on Tuesdays in April at Red Fern Booksellers (106 S Santa Fe Ave).
Since its founding in 1984 by poet Patricia Traxler, the series celebrates National Poetry Month each April and serves as a meeting point for national, regional, and local poets and appreciators of poetry. Celebrating poetic perspectives in the community, each reading entertains and provokes thought on critical issues. The series integrates diverse poetic voices, mirroring social discussions and artistic expressions. Over the years, it has hosted Pulitzer Prize winners and U.S. Poet Laureates, alongside many Kansas Poet Laureates, regionally significant poets, and new voices.
The series this year is sponsored by Salina Arts & Humanities and was curated by Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate. Admission to each reading will be $5 at the door and free for students with ID.
“Salina Arts & Humanities is honored to produce this series for our community,” said Brad Anderson, Executive Director of Salina Arts & Humanities. “Poets have a wonderful way of reflecting our humanity and give us a glimpse into their perspectives on life.”
“I’m grateful to be working with Salina Arts & Humanities again for the 42nd season of the Salina Spring Poetry Series,” says Brimhall. “Every year I’m astounded by the talented writers living and writing in this state, and I’m always excited to share one of my favorite Kansas communities with them when they come to town to share their poems. This year is another great one!”
The lineup of poets for the 2026 Salina Spring Poetry Series includes:
April 7 - Adam Scheffler grew up in California, received his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his PhD in English from Harvard. He is the author of two books of poetry—A Dog's Life—which won the 2016 Jacar Press Book Contest, and Heartworm—which won the 2021 Moon City Press Prize. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Yale Review, Poem-a-Day, Verse Daily, Rattle, Narrative, and many other literary journals. He is also the author of a book of literary criticism, So This Is What It Feels Like: Empathy in the Poetry of James Wright (forthcoming from LSU Press in May).
April 14 - Luisa Muradyan is originally from Odesa, Ukraine and is the author of I Make Jokes When I'm Devastated (SMU Project Poetica, 2025) When the World Stopped Touching (YesYes Books, 2027), and American Radiance (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). She holds a Ph.D. in Poetry from the University of Houston and won the 2017 Raz/ Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Additionally, Muradyan is a member of the Cheburashka Collective, a group of women and nonbinary writers from the former Soviet Union. Additional work can be found at Best American Poetry, the Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and Only Poems, among others.
April 21 - Jennifer Maritza McCauley is the author of the cross-genre collection SCAR ON/SCAR OFF (Stalking Horse Press), the short story collections When Trying to Return Home (Counterpoint) and Recognition (U. Wisconsin Press, ‘27), the poetry collections Kinds of Grace (Flower Song), VERSUS (Texas Review Press, ‘27) and Tumbao (Texas Review Press, ‘29) and the speculative collection NEON STEEL (Feb ‘26). She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kimbilio and CantoMundo and her work has been a New York Times Editors’ Choice, Best Fiction Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and a Must-Read by Elle, Latinx in Publishing, Ms. Magazine and Southern Review of Books. She is seasonal faculty at Yale Writers’ Workshop and an assistant professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
April 28 - Allison Blevins (she/her) is the queer disabled author of Where Will We Live if the House Burns Down?, Cataloguing Pain, Handbook for the Newly Disabled: A Lyric Memoir, Slowly/Suddenly, and six chapbooks. Winner of the 2024 Barthelme Prize, the 2023 Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award, and the 2022 Laux/Millar Poetry Prize, Allison serves as the Publisher of Small Harbor Publishing and lives in Minnesota with her spouse and three children. allisonblevins.com
For needed accommodations, please call Amanda Morris at Salina Arts & Humanities at 785-309-5770 between 8:00 am - 6:00 pm. Every effort will be made to accommodate known disabilities. For material or speech access, please call at least five working days prior to the event.
Salina Arts & Humanities, a department of the City of Salina, has served a unique role as an arts advocate and resource partner since 1966. The Smoky Hill River Festival, Horizons Grants Program, Smoky Hill Museum, Arts Infusion Program in schools, Creative Connections, and Community Art & Design are among the programs of Salina Arts & Humanities, located at 211 W. Iron Avenue in Salina.