February 18, 2026 – Live at Fergie’s Pub

Featuring: Alison Hicks, Chloe Yelena Miller, David J. Schast, Laura Tanenbaum and Sean Hanrahan as the host.

Alison Hicks’ fourth collection of poems is Homing. Previous collections are You Who Took the Boat Out and Kiss, and chapbook Falling Dreams. Her work has appeared in Gargoyle, Permafrost, and Poet Lore. She is founder of Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio, which offers community-based writing workshops.

Chloe Yelena Miller is the author of Perforated and Viable, and the poetry chapbook Unrest. She co-founded and co-directs Brown Bag Lit, an online writing community. Miller teaches writing and literature through University of Maryland’s Global Campus, Politics and Prose bookstore and New Directions in Writing. Miller has a BA in Italian language, literature and an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College.

David J. Schast is a poet living near Philadelphia who returned to writing after decades of creative and practical pursuits. His work draws on a full, varied life and has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The F-Word, Sheila-Na-Gig Online, Voicemail Poems, and multiple Moonstone Press anthologies.

Laura Tanenbaum is a Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York, where she taught composition, literature and creative writing. Her debut collection, Dear Mother, was published by Main Street Rag in January of 2026. Her poems and short stories have appeared in Rust & Moth, Cleaver Magazine, Aji, Rattle, On the Seawall, and many other publications. She has also published essays and book reviews for The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, Dissent, and other venues.

Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows