Publishing Salon: Local Poet Speed Dating

The APS Press is celebrating local poets at our final publishing salon of the year. Join us on Thursday, December 4th for short readings by poets from the Philadelphia area, snacks, drinks, and good company. Each poet will have 5 short minutes to read their work!

Books will be for sale with help from Head House Books. Poetry makes a great holiday gift!

Doors open at 5:15, and poetry readings will begin around 5:45.

The event is free to attend, but registration is required. Upon registering for the event, your email address will be added to a mailing list for news about future publishing salons.

Salons are held every other month on a variety of topics related to the publishing industry. Please contact Allison Cadle at [email protected] with questions.

Kristen Brida's poetry has appeared in poetry.onl, Fairy Tale Review, The Journal, New Delta Review, The Pinch, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA at George Mason University. Currently, she is the marketing & programming fellow for The Head & The Hand, a nonprofit, queer-owned bookstore, and works as a Commissioning Editor for Routledge Open Access journals. She also runs a TikTok account dedicated to showing poetry is for everyone @booksby_kb.

Ann de Forest writes frequently about design, architecture, and the built environment. Her work in various genres, from poetry to walking art, explores the resonance of places—whether her native California, her adopted hometown of Philadelphia, or farther afield in Italy and India. Her writing has appeared most recently in La Piccioletta Barca, Hippocampus, One Art, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. A contributing writer for Hidden City Philadelphia, she is also the editor of the anthology Ways of Walking (New Door Books, 2022).

Alison Lubar (they/themme) is a nonbinary sapphic Nikkei poet and educator who teaches literature to teenagers, writing to adults, and yoga to all ages. They’re the author of The Other Tree, winner of Harbor Editions’ 2023 Laureate Prize, METAMOURPHOSIS (fifth wheel press, 2024), four chapbooks, and a forthcoming microchap, American Kintsugi (Bull City Press, 2026). Alison writes about biracial identity, queer love, transgenerational healing, and common moths; they are also a board member for Philadelphia’s Blue Stoop. Find out more at http://www.alisonlubar.com/.

Shana Murph is a creative entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience as a writer, editor, and proofreader. Her background includes working in book publishing as a developmental editor and senior project manager. She’s the author of Prepping for the Bookshelf: Master Planning Tips and Publishing Strategies for Indie Authors. An avid painter, Shana also enjoys traveling, spa days and good storytelling. She’s a member of the IBPA, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.

Alina Pleskova is a poet, editor, and Moscow-born immigrant turned proud Philadelphian. Her debut collection Toska (Deep Vellum) was a 2024 Lambda Literary Award finalist for LGBTQ+ Poetry. She hosts Track Changes, a monthly music-themed reading and conversation series at the Pen & Pencil Club. More at alinapleskova.com.

Raena Shirali is the author of two collections of poetry. Her first book, GILT, was released by YesYes Books in 2017 and won the 2018 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award. Published by Black Lawrence Press in October 2022, her second book, summonings, won the 2021 Hudson Prize. Winner of a Pushcart Prize & a former Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University, Shirali is also the recipient of prizes and honors from VIDA, Gulf Coast, Boston Review, & Cosmonauts Avenue. Her new non-fiction appears in the most recent issue of carte blanche and new poems are forthcoming in Reunion and Phoebe.

Amy Beth Sisson's (any pronouns) poetry has appeared in Cleaver Magazine, Plant-Human Quarterly, Hot Pink Magazine, and others. She is a 2025 winner of the Mendelssohn Chorus’s Joyful Abundance: Emerging Artist Commissioning Award and a 2025 winner of the Lambda Literary J. Michael Samuel Prize for Emerging Writers Over 50. Amy Beth is Fence Magazine's Steaming (online) visual poetry editor and a board member of Blue Stoop, where she helps with educational programming.