The Coffee House Event Series is an extension of the The Coffee House Writers Project. This series aims to “continue the project as a series of virtual readings and conversations in which members of the literary community reflect on what it means to be writing, reading, and working (or not) in this cultural moment.” — Coffee House Press

To register for this virtual event, click HERE.

Crystal S. Gibbins is a Canadian American writer, founder/editor of Split Rock Review, editor of the anthology Rewilding: Poems for the Environment, and author of Now/Here, winner of the 2017 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for poetry. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and her poetry and comics appear in the Cincinnati Review, Hobart, the Minnesota Review, North American Review, Parentheses Journal, Verse Daily, and the Writer’s Almanac, among others. Originally from the Northwest Angle and Islands in Lake of the Woods (MN/ON), Crystal now lives on the south shore of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. For more information, visit crystalgibbins.com.

Kathryn Savage’s writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, Ecotone Magazine, the Virginia Quarterly Review, BOMB, and the anthology Rewilding: Poems for the Environment. Recipient of the Academy of American Poets James Wright Prize, she has received support from fellowships and residencies including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Minnesota State Arts Board, Ucross Foundation, and Tulsa Artist Fellowship. She lives with her family in Minneapolis and teaches creative writing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

This workshop offers participants the opportunity to explore the comics medium. Participants will be introduced to the basic elements of comics and learn how to create their own comics through a series of short writing prompts and fun drawing activities. This workshop is appropriate for both adults and high school students. No drawing experience necessary.

For more information about this and other FREE class offered at UntitledTown, click HERE.

Crystal will lead a virtual comics workshop at the NDSU Teen Creative Writing Camp.

All students entering grades 7-12 may participate, regardless of skill level. Graduated seniors may participate as well. Daily sessions include fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, song writing, and cartooning.

For more information, click HERE.

Crystal will teach a 30-minute class session on environmental writing at NDSU’s 3rd Annual Teen Creative Writing Camp. This class will be held virtually.

The creative writing camp runs from July 26 to July 30. 9:00am to 4:00pm.

For more information, visit NDSU Teen CWC.

NEW NATURE: REWRITING PLACE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

Split Rock Review celebrates nine years of publishing literature and art that centers on place, environment, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. Four featured authors published by Split Rock Review will read and discuss how their work explores place and complicates the traditions of nature poetry in the Anthropocene. Crystal S. Gibbins, founder and editor of Split Rock Review, will introduce and moderate. A brief Q&A session will follow the reading.

MODERATOR: 

Crystal S. Gibbins is the founder and editor of Split Rock Review and Split Rock Press, editor of the anthology Rewilding: Poems for the Environment, and author of Now/Here, winner of the 2017 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award in Poetry. Her poetry and comics have appeared in Coffee House Writers Project, Hobart, North American Review, Verse Daily, and elsewhere.

PANELISTS: 

Rosemarie Dombrowski is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Phoenix, AZ and the founder of both rinky dink press and. She is the recipient of a 2020 Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets and the director of the therapeutic poetry nonprofit, Revisionary Arts.

Jen Karetnick is the author of 10 poetry collections, including The Burning Where Breath Used to Be and Hunger Until It's Pain (forthcoming). Co-founder and managing editor of SWWIM Every Day, she works as a lifestyle journalist, co-author of Dishtillery newsletter, and trade book author.

Rachel Morgan is the author of the chapbook, Honey & Blood, Blood & Honey. She was a finalist for 2017 National Poetry Series Contest and recipient of a grant to the Vermont Studio Center. She teaches at the University of Northern Iowa and is the Poetry Editor for the North American Review.

Wendy Oleson is the author of two award-winning chapbooks, Please Find Us and Our Daughter & Other Stories. Her recent work appears in Denver Quarterly, Passages North, Cimarron Review, and elsewhere. Wendy serves as the Managing Editor of Split Lip Magazine and Associate Prose Editor for Fairy Tale Review.

For more information about this virtual event, visit AWP.

Have you ever wanted to make comics but weren’t sure how to start? Do you like creating characters and telling stories, but are intimidated by drawing?

This workshop offers participants the opportunity to explore the comics medium. Participants will be introduced to the basic elements of comics and learn how to create their own comics through a series of short writing prompts and fun drawing activities. This workshop is appropriate for both adults and high school students. No drawing experience necessary.

This workshop is sponsored by Write On, Door County and will be presented online via Zoom. Tuition for the 90-minute workshop is $30. Write On members receive a 10% discount. To register online for this workshop, please click here. For other registration options, please call 920-868-1457.

Registration for this workshop closes November 13th. To register after the 13th, please call 920.868.1457. Registrants will receive the information to join by Zoom 2-3 days prior to the class.

During the pandemic, Write On, Door County is hosting their Member Mondays virtually. Join Jerod Santek, Artistic Director of Write On, for a fireside conversation and reading with Crystal Gibbins, Write On’s November writer-in-residence .

Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and tune in to Write On’s Facebook Live to take part.

For more information, visit Write On, Door County.

Best Practices for Submitting to Journals

Journals are an crucial part of the literary ecosystem, but the volume of publications can be daunting when trying to decide where and how to submit your work. What are some of the best ways to approach this world? In this session, Crystal Spring Gibbins (Split Rock Review) and Chris Fink (Beloit Fiction Journal) will join moderator Kathryn Savage for a conversation around how to find the right home for your work.

Location: Ski-U-Mah room at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota campus.

This event is organized and sponsored by The Loft’s Wordsmith, a craft, career, and connection conference that takes place November 2 - 3.

For more information about this event, visit Wordsmith.

Featured readings are preceded by a creative writing open mic. Bring your best five minutes of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction to share.

7:00: Open Mic

8:00: Featured author Crystal S. Gibbins.

This event is free and open to the public.

Final Thursday Reading Series is a collaboration of Final Thursday Press, the Hearst Center for the Arts, and the University of Northern Iowa.

For more information, visit Final Thursday Press.

Crystal Gibbins will meet with students enrolled in Intro to Graduate Studies at the University of Northern Iowa to discuss writing, editing, and publishing.

This is a private event.

Flexible Press celebrates the launch of HOME Wednesday, October 16, 7pm, in the Target Performance Hall at Open Book in Minneapolis. You’ll be able to meet and hear readings from many of the authors and buy a copy.

The anthology includes 40 works representing a wide range of Minnesota experiences and voices, from urban to rural, from historical to present day. From celebrating the connection many of us feel to a community, to the beauty of the north woods, to struggling to find a way to keep our hard-earned home or to carve out a home in a sometimes hostile land, Home is a truly American story.

100 percent of profits will go to Alliance Housing, a Minneapolis non-profit dedicated to making it possible for individuals and families to create homes for themselves, regardless of income and background. 

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit Flexible Press.

Crystal S. Gibbins will be managing the Split Rock Review exhibitor table at the 19th annual Twin Cities Book Festival!

Stop by Split Rock Review’s table at the book fair.  We will have big discounts on books, cool merchandise to give away, information on submissions, and more! 

This event is free and open to the public.

Regreen: Writing Place & Nature Poetry

Place matters and plays an indelible role in the way we perceive and come to understand each other and the world around us. Crystal S. Gibbins will discuss what it means to write about place, read new and selected poems from Now/Here (Holy Cow! Press), and explore how that writing complicates traditional nature poetry. As the editor of Split Rock Review and poetry anthologies, she will offer writing/publishing advice and what she looks for in submissions. A short Q&A will follow.

Location: Lawrence University Warch Campus Center in the Nathan Marsh Pusey Room.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, visit Fox Cities Book Festival.

Crystal S. Gibbins will read new and selected poems from Now/Here at Winona State University. A short Q&A will follow the reading.

The reading will be held in the Anthenaeum, which is located in the WSU Darrell Krueger Library.

This event is free and open to the public.

Crystal S. Gibbins will discuss her work with students enrolled in Prof. Oness’s Introduction to Creative Writing course at Winona State University.

Crystal S. Gibbins will discuss poetry, writing, and editing with students enrolled in Jim Armstrong’s ENGL 312: Poetry Writing course at Winona State University.

Out of the Woods Winery will be hosting a unique “Paper to Wall" showcase and reading. Local poets were invited to submit their work, which will then be shared with visual artists for interpretation.

The reading begins at 5:45pm. Appetizers and wine will be provided at the event. This is a private event.

Artwork and poetry will be on display at the winery’s gallery from August 29 - November 23.

For more information, visit Out of the Woods Winery.

Waters Deep: A Great Lakes Poetry Anthology is nominated for the 31st Northeastern Minnesota Book Award (NEMBA) in Poetry.

Split Rock Review will have a table at the book fair. Stop by to say hello and check out some of our recent publications!

The poetry collections by Crystal S. Gibbins and Michelle Menting explore and complicate the traditions of nature poetry. The poets will read from their books and, as editors of Split Rock Review, offer what they look for in submissions of contemporary nature poetry during the anthropocene.

This event is scheduled in the Waterford Room at St. Brendan’s Inn

For more information about this event visit UntitledTown Book & Author Festival

Submitting your work to journals and literary agencies can be daunting and intimidating, even for an established writer. Sometimes it feels like there is no way to know what editors are looking for. Join this panel of editors for a chance to gain insight on what editors actually look for when reading through submissions, and what you can do to stand out. 

Panelists: Crystal S. Gibbins, Michelle Menting, Christy Clancy, and C. Kubasta

This event is scheduled in the Meeting Room 7 at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, WI.

For more information about this event visit  UntitledTown Book & Author Festival.

Split Rock Review celebrates the release of Waters Deep, an anthology of Great Lakes poetry, co-edited by Crystal S. Gibbins and Michelle Menting. Come listen to a diverse group of contributing poets read from Waters Deep and discuss how they’ve been inspired by the Great Lakes and the woods, watersheds, hills, bluffs, iron and copper ranges, snow belts, rustbelts, and communities that surround them. From layers of history and human culture to natural landscapes and built environments, the voices, perspectives, and styles of the poets featured in Waters Deep are as varied and powerful as the lakes themselves. A Q&A session will follow the reading.

This event is scheduled in Meeting Room 7 at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, WI.

Poetry Readers: Milton J. Bates, Janna Knittel, Issa M. Lewis, Rachel Morgan, M. Bartley Seigel, Phillip Sterling, Emily Stoddard, Connor Yeck

Event Moderators: Crystal S. Gibbins, Michelle Menting, Casey Thayer

For more information about this event visit UntitledTown Book & Author Festival