POETRY READING
Greg Watson for his new collection of poetry, Stars Unseen with Julia Klatt Singer and Michael Kleber-Diggs
Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 7 p.m.
East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, Saint Paul, MN 55106

Registration suggested

Come to the East Side Freedom Library for a reading featuring the latest book from Greg Watson, Stars Unseen (Holy Cow Press). Joining Greg will be literary luminaries Julia Klatt Singer and Michael Kleber-Diggs.

In Stars Unseen, Greg Watson fearlessly navigates a path through multi-generational trauma and grief, explores his Finnish-American heritage, and the joys and challenges of single parenting in the present age. It is a clear-eyed collection that seeks hope and redemption in the face of adversity, and manages to pin down the smallest moments for closer examination.

“Greg Watson’s Stars Unseen is built around snapshots of images and verse. It works with light and shadow as it captures scenes and sounds—silence, whispers, and song. Throughout, Watson proves himself to be a reliable and keen observer of the familial. He’s ‘gazing out of winter windows, taking notes,’ as he always does so well. He’s building art from love, happiness, difficult truths, and harsh realities. Poem by poem, Stars Unseen maintains an essential and sustaining balance. It sees ‘the very sweetness of this world — worthy of every possible risk.’” –Michael Kleber-Diggs, author of Worldly Things

Greg Watson is the author of twelve collections of poetry, most recently Stars Unseen, published by Holy Cow! Press and The Sound of Light, published by Whistling Shade Press. His work has appeared widely in various journals and anthologies, and has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Greg is also co-editor with Richard Broderick of The Road by Heart: Poems of Fatherhood, published by Nodin Press. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.He is also co-editor with Richard Broderick of The Road by Heart: Poems of Fatherhood.

Julia Klatt Singer is a painter and writer. She is co-author of Twelve Branches: Stories from St. Paul, (Coffee House Press), author of In the Dreamed of Places, (Naissance Press), A Tangled Path to Heaven, Untranslatable, (North Star Press), and Elemental (Prolific Press) poems written to the periodic table. Audio poems from Elemental are at OpenKim (https://openkim.org/), as the element Sp (the element of surprise). She’s co-written numerous songs with composers Craig Carnahan, Jocelyn Hagen, and Tim Takach. Ms. Singer is the poet in residence at Grace Neighborhood Nursery School.

Michael Kleber-Diggs (KLEE-burr digs) (he / him / his) is a poet, essayist, literary critic, and arts educator. He is the author of My Weight in Water, a memoir about his complicated relationship with lap swimming (forthcoming with Spiegel & Grau, August 2025). Michael’s debut poetry collection, Worldly Things won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and was published by Milkweed Editions in 2021. His poems and essays often explore themes of intimacy, community, empathy, and grace, practices he believes are distinct and interdependent. Michael is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow in Literature, and he teaches creative writing at Augsburg University and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. You can learn more about Michael and his work at michaelkleberdiggs.com

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN FOR THE CAUSE OF SOLIDARITY!