Kevin Prufer
READINGS & EVENTS
2025
January 8: Cambridge, MA. Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Harvard Square. With John Hodgen and Jennifer Martelli.
2024
October 15: Houston, TX. Basket Books & Art. With Niki Herd! 6:30pm
October 9-10, Denton Texas. University of North Texas. More to come.
Sept. 30: New York, NY. KGB Bar reading with Erin Belieu and Adrian Matejka! Time tba.
Sept 24, Oct 1, and Oct 8: 6:00-7:30pm. Houston, TX. Mini course for the Houston Seminars: "What is a Poem?"
Sept 16: Houston Heights Woman's Club. Guest Lecturer. The Clubhouse. 7pm.
July 27: Cecilia Wolloch & Friends Seminar on Poetry, Voice, and Thought. Info to come.
June 24, Cambridge, MA. Lesley University. Details tba.
May 30, Louisville, KY. Visiting Writer in Residence, Spalding University Low-Residency MFA. Details to come.
May 18, online. Cecilia Wolloch & Friends seminar on poetry
May 12, Cincinnati, OH. Reading from Sleepaway: A Novel, at Joy and Matt’s Books, 915 Vine St Unit A101, Cincinnati, OH 45202. 2-3pm.
May 11, Cincinnati, OH. Tom Postell and Unsung Masters Jazz Shindig! With Michael Peterson and Anthony Sutton. Details tbaa
April 23, Houston, TX. Book release event for Sleepaway: A Novel. Basket Books. 6:30pm
April 20, Columbia, MO. Unbound @ MU. Details tba.
April 19, Kansas City, MO. The Writers Place. Details tba.
April 18, Columbia, MO. University of Missouri. Details tba.
April 17, Warrensburg, MO. University of Central Missouri. Details tba.
April 16, Maryville, MO. Northwest Missouri State University. Details tba.
April 14, Kansas City, MO. The Writers Place seminar. Contact the Kansas City Writers Place for details. 2:30 pm.
March 14, Austin, TX. Bookwoman Bookstore. Time tba.
February 25, Cecilia Woloch's on-line reading series. 2:00 central time. With Naomi Shihab Nye.
February 9, 6pm. Kansas City, MO. Acre Books reading! Habitat Contemporary Gallery. 2012 Baltimore Avenue
February 9, 10:35 a.m., Kansas City, MO. Room 2105 Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, MO: AWP: Draft, Draft, Goose: The Thinking Behind Revision.
February 8, 12:10 p.m., Kansas City, MO. Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, MO: AWP: The Unsung Masters Reading, with Niki Herd, Michael Peterson, Kazim Ali, and Dana Levin.
February 7, 9pm. Kansas City, MO. Smartish Pace reading. Nighthawk bar. 1228 Baltimore Avenue.
February 1, Chapel Hill, NC. University of North Carolina reading. Time and place tba.
January 6, Cambridge, MA. Lesley University. Reading with Jason Reynolds
2023
December 13, on Zoom. What the Universe Is Series with Adrian Matejka. 7:30 Central time/8:30 Eastern
December 6, on Zoom, 2pm Eastern time, 1pm Texas time. Gathering of Poets online interview and reading with interviewer Molly Twomey! Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82814413801..
November 30, Houston, TX.Poison Pen Series at Poison Girl Bar. 8pm
November 18, Houston, TX: The Unsung Masters Reading #7, with Paul Tran, Nick Flynn, Alicia Ostriker, Jamaal May, and Tsering Wangmo. Recorded here: www.unsungmastersreadings.org
November 4, Evanston, IL. Reading at Bookends & Beginnings, 1620 Orrington Ave. With Steven Cramer.
October 11, Kansas City, MO. Midwest Poets Series @ Rockhurst University. Details, tba.
October 3, Houston, TX. Book release party for The Fears! Brazos Books, drinks after. 6:30pm
September 20-22, Timisoara, Romania EU. Litvest featured reader and speaker. Details TBA.
September 4: Zoom! Unsung Masters Reading Series, with Rae Armantrout, Tim Seibles, Eleanor Wilner, Matthew Zapruder, and Naomi Shihab Nye.
September 1-4, Jacar Press Gathering of Poets, workshops and reading. Details, TBA.
July 9, Online. Unsung Masters Zoom for Bert Meyers! With Dana Levin & Adele Elise Williams.
May 22, Houston, TX. Reading for Boldface Conference at the U of Houston. University library, 5pm.
April 28-30, Round Top, TX. Presenting on the latest volume in the Unsung Masters Series, Bert Meyers: on the Life and Work of an American Master, edited by Dana Levin and Adele Williams.
March 30, Houston, TX. 7pm. Unsung Masters book release event! With Dana Levin and Adele Elise Williams. The Jung Center, Montrose.
March 18: New Orleans, LA. Reading at The Splice, 6pm. Saturn Bar, 3067 Saint Claude Avenue. With Roger Kamenetz.
March 11, Seattle, WA. 2-3pm. AWP. Book signing at the Four Way Books table!
March 9, Seattle, WA. 7pm. Poetry Reading @ Four Way Books! Star Bar!
February 16: Houston, TX. In conversation with the excellent Chris Murray about his new book The Black Observatory, Basket Books, 7pm.
February 8, 15, 22: Houston, TX. The Houston Seminars. A mini class called "How to Read a Poem." Details tba.
2022
November 18: San Diego, CA: San Diego State University and Poetry International reading. Details tba.
October 25, On-line: The Unsung Masters Reading Series, with Ilya Kaminsky, Martha Serpas, Anna Journey, Hayan Charara, and Jennifer L Knox. 9pm Eastern, 8pm Texas. Click here to watch.
May 17, On-line: The Unsung Masters Reading Series, with Roberto Tejada, Vijay Seshadri, Kimiko Hahn, Tess Taylor, and Dean Rader. 9pm Eastern, 8pm Texas. Click here to watch.
March 23-26: Philadelphia, PA: AWP: A talk and panel on literary editing. Time and date tba.
March 22: Somewhere on the West Coast, and via Zoom: Poetry Superhighway Reading Series. 7:30 Pacific/9:30 Central time (etc.)
March 18: Rochester, NY: Reading at Monroe Community College. 11am Texas time/noon New York time.
February 23: Peoria, IL. Reading at Bradley University. 7pm, Department of English. Live event.
2021
November 11: Millikin University Reading Series. Launching my new chapbook, I Had Wanted a Happier Ending, from Sting & Honey Press.
October 29: Dire Literary Series on Zoom. More information to come.
October 18-20: Indianapolis, IN: Writer-in-Residence at Butler University. Readings and talks, various. Live events.
October 4: On-Line. The Unsung Masters Reading Series with francine j harris, Erin Belieu, Victoria Chang, Ellen Bass, and D. A. Powell. Link to come!
September 16 at 6:30pm Texas, 7:30pm Eastern time. Eastern Shore Writers Association. Craft talk: "Finding Music in Free Verse Poetry." Click here to register.
September 9 at 7pm Central/8pm Eastern: New England Review reading! It's Rick Barot's last issue as Poetry Editor. I'll be reading poems from that issue. Click here to register!
June 20: Cambridge, MA: Lesley University reading. 5:30 Central / 6:30 Eastern. Click here to register.
June 8: Cambridge, MA: Voices Amidst the Virus reading. 6pm Central/7pm Eastern. Via Zoom. Click to register.
June 6: Mercy Street Reading Series, on-line. 7pm Eastern time. Via Zoom.
June 3: Denver, CO: The Tattered Cover Bookstore. Poetry of Capital reading at 5pm Mountain time, 6pm Central time, 7pm Eastern time.
May 5: Wild & Precious Life Zoom Reading Series. With Barbara Hamby. 6:30 Central/7:30 Eastern. Click to register
May 3: New York City. KGB Reading Series. 7pm Eastern/6pm Central. Via Zoom. Click to register.
April 29: Decatur, IL: Millikin University/Sting & Honey Press Reading. 7:30 Central / 8:30 Eastern.
April 25: Houston, TX. Grackle & Grackle reading with Erin Belieu, Justin Jannise, and Paige Quinones! 7pm Central/8pm Eastern. Click to register.
April 22: Houston, TX. Texas Book Release with Craig Morgan Teicher, too! Brazos Books. 7pm Central/8pm Eastern. Click to register.
April 16: Kansas City, MO. The Writers Place. With Wayne Miller and Katie Manning. More TBA. Via Zoom. Link at https://thewritersplace.wildapricot.org/
April 4: Asheville, NC. Malaprop Reading Series. 2pm Central/3pm Eastern time. Via Zoom.
April 2: Saturnalia / Four Way Books Reading! Jonathan Weinert, Diamond Fordré, Peter Shippey, Rodney Leonard, C. Dale Young, Kevin Prufer! 7pm Central / 8pm Eastern. Via Zoom!
March 27: Texas Institute of Letters Inductee Reading! 11am Central time / 12pm Eastern time. Via Zoom.
March 10: Lamar, TX: Odes & Elegies Reading. 7pm, Zoom.
March 7: Kansas City, MO. AWP Virtual Book Signing. 3-4pm Central time/4-5pm Eastern time.
March 6: Kansas City, MO. Reading with Four Way Books. 8-10pm Eastern/ 7-9pm Central. Here's the link.
March 5: Kansas City, MO. Special Problems in Vocabulary: An AWP Panel on the work of Tony Hoagland. 12:20pm. Online streaming.
March 4: Center for History and Culture. Odes and Elegies Reading. 6:30 Central/7:30 Eastern. Click here for the link.
February 28: New Hampshire: Reading in The Loom Reading Series. 4:30 Eastern/3:30 Central. Via Zoom. Get the link at www.Toadbooks.com/loomzoom.
February 27: Cambridge, MA: Plume Anthology reading. With Christopher Murray, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Saidi Agostini, and Ama Cadjoe. 4PM Central / 5PM Eastern. Click for Zoom link. Meeting ID: 984 1669 1634
Passcode: 549577
February 21: New York City: Malvern Bookstore. 4pm Eastern/3pm Central. Via Zoom.
February 16-18—Indianapolis, IN. Writer-in-Residence at Butler University. Reading, craft talk, etc. [POSTPONED DUE TO COVID]
January 18-23—Delray Beach, FL. Readings, workshops, lectures at the 17th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. [Now via Zoom]
2020
December 4—Zoomsville, USA. 7pm Texas time. Unsung Masters Series reading with Kazim Ali, Sharon Bryan, Martha Collins, Crystal Williams, Rigorberto Gonzalez, Paisely Rekdahl, Charles Hartman and Graham Foust.
July 10—Houston, TX. First Friday Reading Series. Inprint House on West Main.
June 17—On-line! A Reading Series, reading with Martha Collins. 7pm Eastern time, on Zoom. Email me for login information.
March 7—San Antonio, TX: Poetry Reading: The End Will Not Be Sugared: Contemporary Apocalyptic Poetry. The Cherrity Bar, 302 Montana Street. 7pm. (With Deborah Landau, Adam Houle, Trish Hopkinson, Jennifer Hancock, Meghan Privitello, Juan Morales, Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, and Minadora Macheret)
March 4-7—San Antonio, TX: AWP Panel: Special Problems in Vocabulary: A Tribute to Tony Hoagland. With Adrian Blevins, Hayan Charara, Reginald Dwayne Betts, and Alicia Ostriker.
March 4-7—San Antonio, TX: AWP Panel: Politics and Vocabulary in the Time of Trump. With Tony Barnstone, Marilyn Chin, Douglas Manuel, and Aliki Barnstone.
January 7—Cambridge, MA: The Grolier Poetry Bookstore on Harvard Square, with Wayne Miller and Andrea Read. 7pm.
2019
October 13—Houston, TX. Reading at Houston Poetry Festival. 2pm. University of Houston Downtown, Welcome Center, 3rd Floor, Girard St. Bldg, 201 Girard St.
October 11—Houston, TX. Reading at Brazos Books with Diane Mehta. 6:30pm.
October 3—Houston, TX. Writers for Migrant Justice Reading. St. Paul United Methodist, 5501 Main St, Houston, TX. 7pm.
September 24—Cleveland, Ohio. Release party for Russell Atkins' World'd Too Much: Selected Poems, edited by Kevin Prufer & Robert McDonough. Karamu House. Details tba.
September 14—Taos, New Mexico. Somos. Details tba.
September 13—Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bookworks. Details tba.
September 4—Houston, TX. Writers for Migrant Justice Reading, Houston Holocaust Museum. 6:30pm.
June 24—Cambridge, MA. Lesley University. Poetry reading. 6:30pm.
May 11—Cleveland, OH. Poetry reading. Cleveland Public Library. 1:00pm.
April 13-14—Los Angeles, CA. Los Angeles Times Book Festival. 2:40pm
April 11—Venice, CA. Beyond Baroque, with Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Dorothy Barresi, and Noah Blaustein. 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. 8pm.
March 30—Portland, OR. A reading with Kimiko Hahn, Randall Mann, and Mai Der Vang, organized by Elise Paschen. 12:00pm
March 29—Portland, OR. A panel on the poetry of Laura Jensen, with Marianne Boruch, Kaveh Akbar, Miguel Murphy, & organized by Molly Spencer. 4:30pm.
March 22—Charlottesville, VA. Reading at the Virginia Book Festival. 5:00pm.
March 5—Houston, TX. Celebrating Tony Hoagland's The Art of Voice! With Kay Cosgrove, Lillie Robertson, and Chris Murray. The Jung Center. 5pm.
February 1—New York, NY. New York University. Lillian Vernon House. Time 7pm,
2018
November 4—Cleveland, OH. William N Skirball Writers Center, Cuyahoga County Public Library. 1876 South Green Road / South Euclid, OH 44121. Date tba.
October 25-30—Leipzig, Germany. Several readings.
September 28-30—Tieton, WA. LiTFUSE Poets' Conference featured reader and faculty.
September 27—Seattle, WA. Open Books, with Megan Snyder-Camp. Time, tba.
July 8-14—Franconia, NH. In residence, giving lectures, a public reading, etc. at The Robert Frost Place. Details tba.
June 22-30—Cambridge, MA. In residency and doing a poetry reading at Lesley University. Time and exact date tba.
April 26—Houston, TX. Unsung Masters/Archival Poetry Event at Lawndale Art Center! Featuring Jenny Molberg, Christian Bancroft, and Roberto Tejada. 7pm.
April 23—Houston, TX. Inprint Houston Featured Reading. With Rigoberto Gonzalez.
April 8—New York, NY. 6 pm. Four Way Books & Friends Spring 2018 Launch Reading with Lee Briccetti (Blue Guide), Aaron Coleman (Threat Come Close), Margaree Little (Rest), Kevin Prufer (How He Loved Them) and friend of the press Cornelius Eady. Why There Are Words NYC . The Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (just north of Houston), New York, NY 10012
March 28—Boston, MA. Reading information tba
March 27—New York, NY. Book Culture (536 West 112th St.) @ 7 pm. With Martha Collins.
March 9—Tampa, FL. Book signing! Four Way Books table, AWP Bookfair. 4pm.
March 9—Tampa, FL. Four Way Books Reading. AWP. 1:30pm, room 15, Tampa Convention Center.
March 8—Tampa, FL. Panel on Martha Collins' and my new anthology Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentary. AWP. 4:30pm. R286.
March 4—Houston, TX: Passion Series part 2: In conversation with John Gorman about "how poems mean."
February 18—Houston, TX: Passion Series part 1: In conversation with John Gorman about "how poems mean."
2017
November 9—Colorado Springs, CO, place and time tba. Unsung Masters Events! Belle Turnbull!
November 8—Denver, CO, place and time tba. Poetry reading.
October 6—Minneapolis, MN, place and time tba. Release events for Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries (Graywolf Press, 2017).
June 7-11. Alta, UT. Writers at Work. Reading, lecture, etc. More tba.
April 14. Boston, MA. Boston University, talk on translation with Martha Collins.
April, 12. Worcester, MA. Worcester State University.
April 4. Salina, KS. Salina Public Library Reading.
April 3. Houston, TX. Inprint Reading Series with Ada Limon and Gregory Pardlo. I'll be interviewing the poets on-stage after the reading. 7:30PM at the Alley Theatre.
March 23. Houston, TX. A public conversation with Tony Hoagland, Martha Serpas, Kevin Prufer, and Nick Flynn. 7:30pm at The Jung Center.
March 1. Houston, TX. University of Houston reading with Tony Hoagland. 5:30 PM, UH Main Library, Honors Commons.
February 11. Washington, DC. AWP. Panel: "Expanding the Canon" at 4:30pm.
February 10. Washington, DC. AWP. Panel/reading on National Monuments and Nationhood. 10:30am.
January 15. New York City. Featured Speaker at Writers Resist! New York Public Library (with PEN America). Begins at 2pm.
2016
October 20, Lubbock, TX. Texas Tech University. Details tba.
October 7, Kansas City, MO. The University of Missouri @ Kansas City. With Wayne Miller.
October 6, Warrensburg, MO. The University of Central Missouri. With Wayne Miller.
October 5, Omaha, NE. The University of Nebraska at Omaha. With Wayne Miller.
September 8-10, Atlanta, GA. Various readings. Details tba,
May 3, St Louis, MO. Left Bank Books. With Richard Burgin
April 6-8, Athens, OH. Ohio University. Specifics tba.
April 3-5, Des Moines, Iowa. Des Moines Area Community College Celebration of the Literary Arts.
March 29-April 3, Los Angeles, CA. The AWP Conference: A panel on Delmore Schwartz! With Craig Morgan Teicher, Stephen Burt, Don Share, and Jayne Anne Phillips. Specifics tba
March 29-April 3, Los Angeles, CA. The AWP Conference: A panel on the state of literary publishing. With Erin Belieu, Jane Friedman, Daniel José Older, and Roberto Tejada. Specifics tba.
January 28, Houston, TX. Poison Pen Series @ Poison Girl Bar, Westheimer near Dunlavy. With Jonathan Moody!
January 12, Cambridge, MA. Grolier Poetry Bookshop. With Martin Rock.
January 11, Cambridge, MA. Lesley University. Catherine Breese Davis & The Unsung Masters Series -- a Public Talk with Martha Collins, Martin Rock, and Kevin Prufer
2015
November 11, Houston, TX. Brazos Books. 2421 Bissonnet. With Jonathan Wells.
October 12-14, Granville, OH. Denison University. Specifics tba.
October 10, Houston, TX. Concert for Peace. Saint Philip Presbyterian Church. Time tba.
June 24, Cambridge, MA. Cambridge Public Library. 449 Broadway Cambridge MA 02141. 6:30pm
April 23, Houston, TX. Brazos Books. 2421 Bissonnet. With Michael Morse. 7pm
April 17-19, Round Top, TX. Reading, workshop, panel. WIth Michael McGriff
April 8-13, Minneapolis, MN. AWP Conference. Speaking on a panel (with other UH folks) on how to stage a graduate student revolution (and hopefully do good things like create fair work conditions for teaching assistants). Details and times tba.
March 20-21, Gainesville, FL. University of Florida. Visiting Editors Series.
March 4, Fort Collins, CO. With Wayne Miller. Details tba.
February 23, Houston, TX, 7:30pm. Mary Szybist and Kevin Young will read from new work, after which I'll interview them on-stage. Cullen Theater, Wortham Center, 501 Texas Ave.
February 13, Houston, TX. 7pm. The Jung Center. "How Poems Feel: A Public Conversation on Poetry" with Tony Hoagland, Roberto Tejada, and Martha Serpas.
2014
November 24, Salt Lake City, UT. Reading at the University of Utah. More tba.
November 21, Provo, UT. Reading at Brigham Young University, with Josh Bell. Introduced by Darlene Young. HBLL Auditorium. 12-1pm.
November 20, Provo, UT. Brigham Young University. Roundtable discussion: Younger poets writing with an eye toward the tradition, with Josh Bell, moderated by Jay Hopler. EIZ Theater, B002 JSFB. 12-1:15pm.
November 18, Minneapolis, MN. Talk of the Stacks, celebrating the work of Michael Bazzett, winner of Milkweed Edition’s 2014 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry! I'll interview him on stage. Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central (300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55401) in Pohlad Hall, 7pm.
October 25, Cleveland, OH, 2-4pm. Celebrating Russell Atkins! Greg L. Reese Performing Arts Center, 14101 Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland, OH 44112.
October 18, Houston, TX. Reading with Martha Serpas. Time & place tba.
October 17, San Antonio, TX. University of Texas. Reading with Martha Collins!
October 15, Houston, TX. The University of Houston. Reading with Roberto Tejada & Martha Serpas. 5:30pm, Honors Commons.
October 11, Houston, TX. The 11th Annual Conference for Peace. Poetry reading. Sanctuary of St. Philip Presbyterian Church, 7:30pm.
June 22, Cambridge, MA. Lesley University Auditorium. Reading with Rachel Kadish. 7pm.
May 7, New York, NY. NYU Bookstore. 726 Broadway. Reading w/ Joy Katz, Karen Brennan, David J. Daniels, and Daniel Tobin. 6pm.
May 6, New York, NY. Four Way Books Benefit! The Bubble Lounge, 228 W Broadway #1, NYC Tickets. 7pm!
May 5, Brooklyn, NY. Berl's Poetry Bookshop. 124A Front Street, Dumbo. w/ Joy Katz, Karen Brennan, David J. Daniels, Brett Fletcher Lauer, and Daniel Tobin. 7pm.
April 17, Houston, TX. 7pm. Brazos Bookstore! 2421 Bissonnet Street.
April 14, St. Louis, MO. 7:30 PM. Llywellyn's Pub, The Central West End. 4747 McPherson Ave.
April 10, New York, NY. New York University, 5:30 pm. AIA New York Chapter House, 536 Laguardia Place. As part of the Global Poets Series, with Nepalese poet Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma!
April 8, Huntsville, TX. 4pm Q&A, 6pm reading. Sam Houston State University.
March 29, Los Angeles, CA. Beyond Baroque, with Noah Blaustein, Julie Carr, & Gillian Conoley!
March 10, Houston, TX. Mongoose vs. Cobra w/ Noah Blaustein! 8pm!
February 28, Seattle, WA. 7pm at the Musiquarium. Cincinnati Review tribute reading.
February 27-March 2, Seattle, WA. @ the AWP, a panel: Ergo Sum Game: Poetry as Philosophical Foray, with Catherine Barnett, Mary Szybist, Joy Katz, & Michael Morse.