Reading Series
As part of our commitment to advance the knowledge and practice of poetry in Clark County and beyond, Poetry Promise is proud to have brought renowned Poets Laureate and other incredible poets to Las Vegas for readings and events. Please see below for an archive of past readings in this series.
Leading Living Jewish-American Poet Alicia Ostriker
Live Zoom featuring Alicia Ostriker with in-person watch party at Jewish Nevada, presented by Clark County Poet Laureate Angela M. Brommel and Poetry Promise, Inc.
Joy Harjo
LET THERE BE NO REGRETS was an online series featuring United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.
Andy Clausen
Andy Clausen, who the poet whom Allen Ginsberg called “a vox populi of the democratic unconscious” visited Las Vegas in November 2019 for a reading and workshop.
Tracy K. Smith
The Clark County Poet Laureate partnered with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Black Mountain Institute, and other sponsors to bring Tracy K. Smith, sitting Poet Laureate of the United States to Clark County as part of the Poetry Promise Reading Series
Saul Williams
Saul Williams is one of the most celebrated and globally recognized American poets living today. Williams visited Las Vegas in 2017 to hold two events; a workshop and a reading.
David Lehman
David Lehman is one of America’s leading poets using humor and everyday language to bring us great insight into the most powerful thoughts and feelings of life. He held a reading and a workshop in Las Vegas in 2017.
Michael McClure
In the 1950s, McClure was a key figure in the San Francisco poetry renaissance and one of the original Beat poets. Michael McClure’s reading was part of the Poets of National Stature reading series founded by Clark County Poet Laureate Bruce Isaacson.
Jack Hirschman
Former San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman moderated a discussion following a screening of the film When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead, which tells the story of Beat poet Bob Kaufman.
Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds is one of the most influential poets of our time. In 2016, she visited Las Vegas to give a reading and a workshop. Her early work set a unique standard of beauty, sympathy, and truth for poets writing from personal experience. In 2012, she won the Pulitzer Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize for her book Stag’s Leap.
Juan Felipe Herrera
Clark County Poet Laureate Bruce Isaacson announced a reading by the Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, on the campus of Nevada State College in Henderson. The reading marked Herrera’s Nevada debut after being appointed the 21st U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2015.
These events have been made possible with the support of these and other sponsors:
