Michael Werner Gallery, Beverly Hills will launch the Courtyard Series, a new series of literary and performing arts events, with a celebration of California poets published by independent literary press Milkweed Editions. This is the first in a quarterly program of poetry readings in collaboration with Milkweed at the gallery. The series will take place in the gallery’s courtyard at 415 N. Camden Drive, with the inaugural event on Saturday, September 7, at 5 pm.
For the first event, Jos Charles (a Year & other poems and feeld), Marilyn Chin (The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty), and Jackson Holbert (Winter Stranger) will each read from their acclaimed collections and participate in a Q&A-style conversation about their work, and poetry as a chosen art form. The program is curated by fellow Milkweed author Elizabeth Metzger, a poetry editor at Los Angeles Review of Books and co-host of the reading series The Long Freeway: Poets Read Los Angeles.
In addition to the Milkweed poetry readings, Michael Werner Gallery’s Courtyard Series will include dance and music performances, curated in collaboration with gallerist Hannah Hoffman. The series activates the gallery’s courtyard, which is designed by Eric Nagelmann, the legendary landscape designer behind Lotus Land, among other projects.
“Poetry has been a lifeline for me since childhood for its ability to beautify the ugliest things in the world. A few years ago, I began to realize a common thread between the most astonishing poets I encountered—they were all published by Milkweed. I am honored to now partner with Milkweed to introduce the Courtyard Series at Michael Werner’s new Beverly Hills gallery. It is my great hope that this series will elevate poets, highlight the intersection of the visual and literary arts, fuel discovery, and introduce Milkweed to a contemporary visual arts audience as we nurture our community in LA. Milkweed operates at such a high level, and I cannot wait to join them for a celebration of California poets in our courtyard.” – Gordon VeneKlasen, owner, Michael Werner Gallery.
The Courtyard Series will culminate each year in a publication each year with work by the poets featured in the series and documentation of the events.
The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Those interested in attending should register at eventbrite.com.
For more information, please contact the gallery at press@michaelwerner.com or the publisher at morgan_larocca@milkweed.org.
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Jos Charles is author of the poetry collections a Year & other poems (Milkweed Editions, 2022); feeld, a Pulitzer-finalist and winner of the 2017 National Poetry Series selected by Fady Joudah (Milkweed Editions, 2018); and Safe Space (Ahsahta Press, 2016). She is visiting faculty for UC Riverside’s Creative Writing Department and teaches as a part of Randolph College's low-residency MFA program. She resides in Long Beach, California.
Marilyn Chin is an award-winning poet whose works have become Asian American classics taught all over the world. She has published six collections of poems, including Sage (W.W. Norton, 2023), A Portrait of the Self as Nation: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2018), and The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty (Milkweed Editions, 2009). She is the Holmes Visiting Poet at Princeton and serves as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She lives in San Diego, California.
Jackson Holbert was born and raised in eastern Washington. His first book, Winter Stranger, won the Max Ritvo Prize (Milkweed Editions, 2023). His work has appeared in Narrative, The Nation, and Poetry. He received an MFA in Poetry from the Michener Center for Writers. He is currently a Jones Lecturer at Stanford and lives in Oakland, California