Renowned Poets to Read at Bookshop Santa Cruz as Part of ‘Hive Live!’ Series

Three nationally recognized poets — Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar and Susan Browne — will headline a free public poetry reading Tuesday, Sept. 9, at Bookshop Santa Cruz as part of The Hive Poetry Collective’s bimonthly series, The Hive Live!

The event begins at 7 p.m. at the downtown bookstore, located at 1520 Pacific Ave. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Attendees are asked to register in advance.

The evening will feature readings from three writers who have spent decades examining the human condition through verse, exploring love, loss, resilience and everyday grace.

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Dorianne Laux is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her work is widely praised for its lyrical intensity and emotional clarity.

Laux’s most recent collection, Life on Earth, continues her career-long exploration of human connection, grief and desire. Other notable works include Only As the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems, The Book of Men—which won the Paterson Poetry Prize—and Facts About the Moon, winner of the Oregon Book Award.

She is also the author of Finger Exercises for Poets, a handbook for writers. Laux teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University.

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Joseph Millar, also on the Pacific University faculty, writes poems that grow out of working-class life, relationships and the quiet mystery of daily moments.

His sixth collection, Shine, was released recently to critical acclaim. Millar’s work has been honored with fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Critics often praise his narrative clarity and ability to capture the “sublime in the ordinary.”

He lives in Richmond, California.

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Susan Browne is the author of four collections, including Monster Mash, Just Living, Zephyr, and Buddha’s Dogs.

Her poems have appeared in major literary journals such as Poetry, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Sun and Subtropics. Her honors include the Four Way Books Intro Prize, the Catamaran Poetry Prize, the James Dickey Poetry Prize, and a fellowship from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.

A longtime English professor, Browne now teaches poetry workshops online from her home in Northern California.

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The Hive Poetry Collective, which organizes the reading series, also hosts a weekly poetry radio show on KSQD 90.7 FM. Broadcasts air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and are available for streaming at hivepoetry.org. The collective brings together poets, listeners and readers through events and radio aimed at amplifying diverse poetic voices.

For more information, contact Julia Chiapella at julia@ebold.com or (831) 227-7690.