Moonstone Arts Center

Sunday March 15, 2026 - Latinx Voices in Poetry: Poetry Without Borders - VIRTUAL
2026-03-15 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | PA
Sunday March 15, 2026 – Latinx Voices in Poetry: Poetry Without Borders
Register Here: Latinx Voices in Poetry: Virtual Poetry Reading
This anthology will include three sections: Remembering Marjorie Agosin, Remembering Ernesto Cardenzal, and Latinx Voices in Poetry: Poetry Without Borders – Poetry by Latin American Poets both in the US and Latin America

Wednesday March 18, 2026 - LIVE at Fergie's Pub
2026-03-18 19:00 - 2026-03-29 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday March 18, 2026 – LIVE at Fergie’s
Featuring: Vincent Bush, Demetra De’Vine, William E. Heston, Matthew Klauber, and Sean Hanrahan as Host
Vincent Bush is a Philadelphia-based mixed media artist and poet. Through his chosen mediums, Vincent explores healing, identity, and the power of love, often using the heart as a universal symbol that transcends culture, religion, and background.
Demetra De’Vine moved on to poetry in middle school. Not published yet but she’s currently working on her first book. She’s performed for open mics and other events in the city. She writes about her experiences as a black queer person born and raised in the lovely city of Philadelphia.
William E. Heston is a poet, painter, musician, and filmmaker whose art focuses on the personal drama of working class life-whether it’s through the lens of gritty realism, low fantasy, or surrealism.
Matthew Klauber is a writer and educator based in the Philadelphia area. A longtime devotee of the Moonstone Arts Center, his work has been published in The Literary Hatchet, Orchards, Calliope, and elsewhere.
Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows

Sunday March 22, 2026 - World Poetry Day - Virtual
2026-03-22 14:00 - 16:00 | PA
Sunday March 22, 2026 World Poetry Day – Virtual
Register Here: World Poetry Day – Virtual
World Poetry Day is celebrated on March 21st, and was declared by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in 1999, ”with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard”. Its purpose is to promote the reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry throughout the world, and as the original UNESCO declaration says, ”to give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional, and international poetry movements”.

Wednesday April 1, 2026 - LIVE
2026-04-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday April 1, 2026 – Live at Fergie’s Pub @ 7pm
Featuring: Peter Baroth, Courtney Bambrick, Emiliano Martin, and Liz Allen as Host
Peter Baroth is a writer, artist, and musician based in the Philadelphia area. He has published a novel, Long Green and his most recent chapbook is Ski Oklahoma. , he is on the editorial board of Philadelphia Stories magazine.
Courtney Bambrick was poetry editor at Philadelphia Stories, her poems appear in American Poetry Review, Spotlong, Mom Egg Review, Landlocked, Clockhouse, Pinhole, Thimble, SWWIM Everyday, New York Quarterly, Invisible City, and more.
Emiliano Martin is a bilingual poet originally from Spain. Martín served as President of “Círculo Español”, was the founding director of the “Philadelphia Poetry Forum”, Executive Director of the Latin American Guild for the Arts in Philadelphia and President of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society.
Liz Allen Host – Open Reading Follows

Wednesday April 8 - LIVE
2026-04-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday April 8, 2026 – Live at Fergie’s Pub @ 7pm
Featuring: John Wall Barger, Mac Chandler, Ernest Hilbert, and Sean Lynch as Host
John Wall Barger, author of Praise for Resurrection Pie, is a contract editor for Frontenac House, lives in Vermont, and lectures in the Writing Program at Dartmouth College.
Mac Chandler is a writer from West Philly who has been published in some places and not in others. They currently host quarterly shows for Moonstone Arts, and recently self-published their first collection of poetry, There Is A Thing Haunting Me I Could Grow To Love.
Ernest Hilbert founded the Oxford Quarterly and E-Verse Radio. He has also served as editor of both the Contemporary Poetry Review and Random House’s magazine Bold Type.
Sean Lynch as Host – Open Reading Follows

Sunday April 26, 2026
2026-04-11 08:00 - 17:00 | PA
Sunday April 26, 2026 – VIRTUAL at 2pm
Moonstone Chapbook Contest 2025 – Reading Featuring:
The Winning Manuscript: All at Once by Lucia Owen
High Honorable Mention: Tarifa Moon by Bill O’Connell
Honorable Mention: Bright Clatter by Susan Coppock
Honorable Mention: Shadow House by Ada Lowenthal

PLUS These Exceptional Poets
Aliyah Cotton, author of The Lungs Remember Breath
Anne Greenhaigh, author of Half sun, half shade: a sequence of sestinas
Vincent Hostak, author of The Strangest Fire
Stacie Kiner, author of Abby Road
Brandy Reinke, author of Remnants of the Injury of Finding the Known
Meri Tumanyan, author of Why I Pray in Armenian
Register Here!

Sunday April 12 - LIVE
2026-04-12 15:00 - 17:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Sunday April 12, 2026 – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub @ 3pm
Featuring: Joseph Chelius, Lee Stockdale, Anne-Adele Wight, and Aaron Perry as Host
Joseph Chelius is the author of five collections of poems and is a former Bucks County, Pennsylvania Poet.
Lee Stockdale has won the United Kingdom National Poetry Prize, Montana Prize for Humor, Sidney Lanier Poetry Prize, and others.
Anne-Adele Wight is the author of An Internet of Containment, The Age of Greenhouses, Opera House Arterial, and Sidestep Catapult, all from BlazeVOX.
Aaron Perry Host – Open Reading Follows

Tuesday April 14, 2026 - LIVE on PhillyCam
2026-04-14 18:30 - 19:00 | PA
Tuesday April 14, 2026 – LIVE BROADCAST on PhillyCam @ 6:30pm
Moonstone Poetry @ PhillyCAM, Can be viewed on the
Phillycam website: PhillyCam Philly Loves Poetry
Or Cable 66/966HD/967 or Verizon FIOS, 29/30 In Philadelphia.
Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series
Anne-Adele Wight is the author of An Internet of Containment, The Age of Greenhouses, Opera House Arterial, and Sidestep Catapult, all from BlazeVOX. Her work has appeared in Poets and Writers, Luna Luna, Adroit Journal, and other publications. She lives and writes in Philadelphia.
Charles S. Carr, Host

Wednesday April 15, 2026 - LIVE
2026-04-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wedsnesday April 15, 2026 – Live at Fergie’s Pub @ 7pm
Featuring: C.M. Crockford, Chris DeMento, John Fadely, Alison Lubar, and Sean Hanrahan as Host
C.M. Crockford poems, essays, and stories have been featured in Vastarien, Nobody Magazine, Be About It Press, and The Cleveland Review of Books among many others.
Chris DeMento hosts Poetry Night in collaboration with the cafe Char & Stave, featuring some of the most impressive voices from the PHL region and beyond.
John Fadely won the 2025 Trail to Table Book Award in Poetry for his debut collection, Before Leaving the Island, which will be published on April 21.
Alison Lubar is a Nikkei poet and educator who teaches literature to teenagers, writing to adults, and yoga to all ages. Alison writes about biracial identity, queer love, transgenerational healing, and common moths; they are also a board member for Philadelphia’s Blue Stoop.
Sean Hanrahan Host – Open Reading Follows

Sunday April 19, 2026 - Haiku Poetry Day - Virtual
2026-04-19 14:00 - 16:00 | PA
Sunday April 19, 2026 – Haiku Poetry Day – Virtual
Register Here: Haiku Poetry Day Virtual Reading
National Haiku Day, an initiative of the Haiku Foundation, celebrates the art form every April 17th. A haiku is an ancient form of Japanese poetry that consists of three lines with the sentence structure ”five-seven-five”- although this is contested for being a western way of teaching the haiku. Japanese haikus also count sounds, not only syllables. Haikus typically revolve around nature, the passing of seasons, or ephemeral beauty. At the risk of sounding like your high school English teacher, they rely more on images than metaphors. They’re also very concise, due to their short length.

Wednesday April 22 - LIVE
2026-04-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednseday April 22, 2026 – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub @ 7pm
Featuring: Grace Bauer, Sean Hanrahan, Gina Myers, and Anne-Adele Wight as Host
Grace Bauer has published six books of poems and co-edited the anthology Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse.
Sean Hanrahan is author of Headless, has taught classes titled A Chapbook in 49 Days, Ekphrastic Poetry, Poetry Embodied and has hosted and read at poetry events throughout Philadelphia.
Gina Myers is the author A Model Year and Hold It Down, she coedits the tiny with Gabriella Torres andruns the Accidental Player reading series.
Anne-Adele Wight Host, Open Reading Follows

Wednesday April 29 - LIVE
2026-04-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday April 29, 2026 – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub @7pm
Featuring: Shannon Frost Greenstein, Emily Rose Reed. With Hosts Warren Longmire & Lindsay Hargrave
Shannon Frost Greenstein resides near Philadelphia with her family and cats. She is the author of Through the Lens of Time, and “These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things. Shannon is a former Ph.D. candidate in Continental Philosophy and a multi-time Pushcart Prize and BOTN nominee. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Pithead Chapel, Nimrod Journal, Bending Genres, Parentheses Journal, Litro Mag, Philadelphia Stories, and elsewhere. Shannon’s passions include Friedrich Nietzsche, anti-racism, the Seven Summits, the Hamilton Soundtrack, motherhood, and acquiring more cats.
Emily Rose Reed is a queer trans chaotic mess of a DIY musician, writer, and all around sweetie from Philly/South Jersey who makes music under the name How I Became Invisible. If you have a band she’s probably in it, and she might also be your girlfriend. Find her music at howibecameinvisible.com, and everywhere except Spotify because they’re a garbage company.
Warren Longmire & Lindsay Hargrave Hosts – Open Reading Follows

Sunday, May 3 - LIVE AND VIRTUAL - 3pm
2026-05-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Remembering Hal Sirowitz
Sunday May 3, 2026 – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub AND Virtual
Hal Sirowitz (March 6, 1949- October 17, 2025) was an American and internationally known poet, who first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam. He eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team and competed in the 1993 National Poetry Slam along with his Nuyorican teammates Maggie Estep, Tracie Morris, and Regie Cabico.
He would later perform his poetry on stages across the country, and on television programs such as MTV’s Spoken Word: Unplugged and PBS’s The United States of Poetry. He wrote five books of poetry: Mother Said, My Therapist Said, Father Said, During and After, and Stray Cat Blues. He was the best-selling translated poet in Norway, where Mother Said has been adapted for the stage and turned into a series of animated cartoons. He has been translated into thirteen languages.
Sirowitz was a 1994 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and was the Poet Laureate of Queens. He worked as a special education teacher in the New York public school system for 23 years and was married to the writer Minter Krotzer, who will be attending.
Tom Devaney and Jeff Lee as Hosts

Purchase the anthology featuring over 30 poets honoring Hal and his legacy.
Register Here for Virtual

Wednesday May 6, 2026 - 7pm – LIVE
2026-05-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Wednesday May 6, 2026 – 7pm – LIVE at Fergie’s Pub
Featuring: Dilruba (Ruba) Ahmed, Barbara Siegel Carlson, Raina J. León, ariel rosé
Dilruba (Ruba) Ahmed is the author of Bring Now the Angels (Pitt Poetry), with poems featured in New York Times Magazine, The Slowdown, and Poetry Unbound. Her poems have appeared in Kenyon Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, and Virginia Quarterly Review. Her work has also been anthologized in Best American Poetry; Halal If You Hear Me; New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims; They Rise Like A Wave: An Anthology of Asian American Women Poets; and elsewhere.
Barbara Siegel Carlson is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Current published by Lily Poetry Review Books, 2026. Her poetry and translations have appeared in Verse Daily, Cortland Review, Mid-American Review, Salamander, 2River, The Poetry Porch and others. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Carlson is a Poetry in Translation Editor of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices.
Raina J. León, PhD, 2026-2027 Philadelphia Poet Laureate, is a Black, Afro-Boricua poet, writer, and educator from southwest Philadelphia (Lenni Lenape ancestral lands). Her work is grounded in collective action and community engagement, centering storytelling, memory, and the liberatory practice of humanizing education across poetry, visual art, and archival practice. She is the author of black god mother this body, Canticle of Idols, Boogeyman Dawn, sombra : (dis)locate, and several chapbooks, and is the founding editor of The Acentos Review, an international journal dedicated to the promotion and publication of Latinx arts.
ariel rosé is a trans gender / androgynous / queer poet, essayist, and illustrator originally from Poland, resident of Norway, a nomad. Ariel is coming to the United States to read from Both Sides Face East. Durable Words, that they edited: well as their latest poetry collection, morze nocą jest mięśniem serca (the sea at night is a muscle of the heart) nominated for the Orfeusz Award, and Północ. They were for the Most Beautiful Book Award for their illustrations for Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s Kocia Książka (Cat Book).
