Writers Night Out in September

Join Straw Dog Writers Guild on Tuesday September 2nd, 6:00-8:00pm for Writers Night Out with featured writer Joshua Michael Steward at Forbes Library. No registration required. If you want to participate in Open Mic and read, please sign up by 5:50pm. Ten names will be randomly selected. Each reader will have five minutes. The second half of the evening showcases our Featured Reader.

Masks are not currently required for indoor events. Please wear a mask if you would like to exercise caution.

Hosted by Jacqueline Sheehan, Rick Paar and Beth Filson.
Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement.

Joshua Michael Stewart is the author of Break Every String, The Bastard Children of Dharma Bums, and
Love Something. His work has appeared in Modern Haiku, Massachusetts Review, Brilliant Corners, New Flash Fiction Review, and Best Small Fictions 2025. His latest book is Welcome Home, Russell Edson—a graphic novel & prose poem hybrid created in collaboration with illustrators Bret M. Herholz and Aaron J. Krolikowski. https://joshuamichaelstewartauthor.com

“There’s a fearlessness in Joshua Michael Stewart’s poetry—tough, tightly written narratives and
monologues about living poor with broken people (some of whom are your closest relatives) in hard
times. This heartfelt gritty work reminds me of the hardscrabble accounts of humanity in some of
our best poets—the work of Ai, Bruce Weigel, and Linda McCarriston’s landmark book, Eva-Marie.
Stewart exercises the courage of truth telling and takes the revenge of real poetic craft. As Bruce
Weigel says “Say it clearly and you make it beautiful, no matter what.”; Or as Stewart says, “Poets are
the battered spouses of hope.”; You can’t help but respect the maker of these streamlined vehicles,
for his guts and his unsentimental, vivid poems.”
-Tony Hoagland